UC-NRLF 


B    3    S7fl    S5D 


\LE   OF 

HE  KENTUCKY  HEMPHELDS 


Mar 


- 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


Class 


THE  REIGN  OF  LAW 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


7A.GE 
II 


«  <  I'll  make  a  place  for  you  this  night,'  he  said 

Frontispiece    212 

«  The  earliest  sower  of  the  hemp  goes  forth  into  the 

fields"       ......       fMinS        l 

«  Let  these  men  be  the  strongest  "   .         .       facing      24 
"  Where  the  stately  stacks  rise  amid  the  deadened 

trees"        ......       fadnS      & 

"  Then  the  fields  are  as  the  camp  of  an  army  "     . 

facing    120 

«  Winter's  all-tightening  frosts  "        .         .       facing    184 
u  That  first  house  of  religious  liberty  in  the  western 

wilderness"       .....       fadnS    24§ 
"  Into  its  largeness,  its  woodland  odors,  and  twilight 


peace"       ......  3" 

"  Gabriella  whose  love  and  faith  were  as  Martha's  *  . 

facing    366 


226345 


HEMP 


"'I'LL   MAKE   A    PLACE   FOR   YOU,   THIS   NlGHT,'    HE   SAID." 

(See  page  212.} 


THE  REIGN  OF  LAW 


A    TALE    OF  THE  KENTUCKY 
HEMP  FIELDS 


BY 


JAMES   LANE   ALLEN 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  CHOIR  INVISIBLE,"   "SUMMER   IN 
ARCADY,"  "A  KENTUCKY  CARDINAL,"   ETC. 


WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS  BY 
HARRY  FENN  AND  J.   C   EARL 


gcrfc 
THE    MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

LONDON  i   MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LTD. 
IQOO 

All  rights  reserved 


COPYRIGHT,  1900, 
BY  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped  June,  1900.     Reprinted  July,, 
twice;  August;  September,  November,  December,  1900. 


J.  S.  Cuihinfc  &  Co  —  Berwick  &  Smith 
Norwood  Mass.  U.S.A. 


Betrtcatton 


TO  THE  MEMORY  OF  A  FATHER  AND 
MOTHER  WHOSE  SELF-SACRIFICE,  HIGH 
SYMPATHY,  AND  DEVOTION  THE  WRITING 
OF  THIS  STORY  HAS  CAUSED  TO  LIVE 
AFRESH  IN  THE  EVER-GROWING,  NEVER 
AGING,  GRATITUDE  OF  THEIR  SON  *  » 


THE   REIGN   OF   LAW 


HEMP 

THE  Anglo-Saxon  farmers  had  scarce 
conquered  foothold,  stronghold,  freehold 
in  the  Western  wilderness  before  they 
became  sowers  of  hemp  —  with  remem 
brance  of  Virginia,  with  remembrance  of 
dear  ancestral  Britain.  Away  back  in  the 
days  when  they  lived  with  wife,  child,  flock 
in  frontier  wooden  fortresses  and  hardly 
ventured  forth  for  water,  salt,  game,  tillage 
—  in  the  very  summer  of  that  wild  day 
light  ride  of  Tomlinson  and  Bell,  by  com 
parison  with  which,  my  children,  the  mid 
night  ride  of  Paul  Revere,  was  as  tame  as 
the  pitching  of  a  rocking-horse  in  a  boy's 
nursery  —  on  that  history-making  twelfth 
of  August,  of  the  year  1782,  when  these 
two  backwoods  riflemen,  during  that  same 
Revolution,  the  Kentuckians  then  fighting 

3 


6  The  Reign  of  Law 

which  no  human  eye  will  ever  see  again 
was  felled ;  and  with  the  forest  went  its 
pastures,  its  waters.  The  roads  of  Ken 
tucky,  those  long  limestone  turnpikes  con 
necting  the  towns  and  villages  with  the 
farms  —  they  were  early  made  necessary 
by  the  hauling  of  the  hemp.  For  the  sake 
of  it  slaves  were  perpetually  being  trained, 
hired,  bartered  ;  lands  perpetually  rented 
and  sold ;  fortunes  made  or  lost.  The 
advancing  price  of  farms,  the  westward 
movement  of  poor  families  and  conse 
quent  dispersion  of  the  Kentuckians  over 
cheaper  territory,  whither  they  carried 
the  same  passion  for  the  cultivation  of 
the  same  plant,  —  thus  making  Missouri 
the  second  hemp-producing  state  in  the 
Union,  —  the  regulation  of  the  hours  in 
the  Kentucky  cabin,  in  the  house,  at  the 
rope-walk,  in  the  factory,  —  what  phase  of 
life  went  unaffected  by  the  pursuit  and  fas 
cination  of  it.  Thought,  care,  hope  of  the 
farmer  oftentimes  throughout  the  entire 
year!  Upon  it  depending,  it  may  be, 
the  college  of  his  son,  the  accomplish- 


Hemp  7 

ments  of  his  daughter,  the  luxuries  of  his 
wife,  the  house  he  would  build,  the  stock 
he  could  own.  His  own  pleasures  also : 
his  deer  hunting  in  the  South,  his  fox 
hunting  at  home,  his  fishing  on  the  great 
lakes,  his  excursions  on  the  old  floating 
palaces  of  the  Mississippi  down  to  New 
Orleans  —  all  these  depending  in  large 
measure  upon  his  hemp,  that  thickest 
gold-dust  of  his  golden  acres. 

With  the  Civil  War  began  the  long 
decline,  lasting  still.  The  record  stands 
that  throughout  the  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  odd  years  elapsing  from  the 
entrance  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  farmers  into 
the  wilderness  down  to  the  present  time, 
a  few  counties  of  Kentucky  have  fur 
nished  army  and  navy,  the  entire  coun 
try,  with  all  but  a  small  part  of  the  native 
hemp  consumed.  Little  comparatively  is 
cultivated  in  Kentucky  now.  The  trav 
eller  may  still  see  it  here  and  there,  crown 
ing  those  ever-renewing,  self-renewing  in 
exhaustible  fields.  But  the  time  cannot 
be  far  distant  when  the  industry  there 


8  The  Reign  of  Law 

will  have  become  extinct.  Its  place  in 
the  nation's  markets  will  be  still  further 
taken  by  metals,  by  other  fibres,  by  finer 
varieties  of  the  same  fibre,  by  the  same 
variety  cultivated  in  soils  less  valuable. 
The  history  of  it  in  Kentucky  will  be 
ended,  and,  being  ended,  lost. 

Some  morning  when  the  roar  of  March 
winds  is  no  more  heard  in  the  tossing 
woods,  but  along  still  brown  boughs  a 
faint,  veil-like  greenness  runs ;  when  every 
spring,  welling  out  of  the  soaked  earth, 
trickles  through  banks  of  sod  unbarred 
by  ice;  before  a  bee  is  abroad  under 
the  calling  sky;  before  the  red  of  apple- 
buds  becomes  a  sign  in  the  low  orchards, 
or  the  high  song  of  the  thrush  is  pouring 
forth  far  away  at  wet  pale-green  sunsets, 
the  sower,  the  earliest  sower  of  the  hemp, 
goes  forth  into  the  fields* 

Warm  they  must  be,  soft  and  warm, 
those  fields,  its  chosen  birthplace.  Up 
turned  by  the  plough,  crossed  and  re- 
crossed  by  the  harrow,  clodless,  levelled, 


Hemp  9 

deep,  fine,  fertile  —  some  extinct  river- 
bottom,  some  valley  threaded  by  streams, 
some  table-land  of  mild  rays,  moist  airs, 
alluvial  or  limestone  soils  —  such  is  the 
favorite  cradle  of  the  hemp  in  Nature, 
Back  and  forth  with  measured  tread,  with 
measured  distance,  broadcast  the  sower 
sows,  scattering  with  plenteous  hand  those 
small  oval-shaped  fruits,  gray-green,  black- 
striped,  heavily  packed  with  living  marrow. 
Lightly  covered  over  by  drag  or  harrow, 
under  the  rolled  earth  now  they  lie,  those 
mighty,  those  inert  seeds.  Down  into  the 
darkness  about  them  the  sun  rays  penetrate 
day  by  day,  stroking  them  with  the  brushes 
of  light,  prodding  them  with  spears  of 
flame.  Drops  of  nightly  dews,  drops  from 
the  coursing  clouds,  trickle  down  to  them, 
moistening  the  dryness,  closing  up  the 
little  hollows  of  the  ground,  drawing  the 
particles  of  maternal  earth  more  closely. 
Suddenly  —  as  an  insect  that  has  been 
feigning  death  cautiously  unrolls  itself 
and  starts  into  action  —  in  each  seed  the 
great  miracle  of  life  begins.  Each  awakens 


xo  The  Reign  of  Law 

as  from  a  sleep,  as  from  pretended  death. 
It  starts,  it  moves,  it  bursts  its  ashen  woody 
shell,  it  takes  two  opposite  courses,  the 
white,  fibril-tapered  root  hurrying  away 
from  the  sun ;  the  tiny  stem,  bearing  its 
lance-like  leaves,  ascending  graceful,  brave 
like  a  palm, 

Some  morning,  not  many  days  later,  the 
farmer,  walking  out  into  his  barn  lot  and 
casting  a  look  in  the  direction  of  his  field, 
sees  —  or  does  he  not  see?  —  the  surface 
of  it  less  dark.  What  is  that  uncertain 
flush  low  on  the  ground,  that  irresistible 
rush  of  multitudinous  green  ?  A  fort 
night,  and  the  field  is  brown  no  longer. 
Overflowing  it,  burying  it  out  of  sight,  is 
the  shallow  tidal  sea  of  the  hemp,  ever 
rippling.  Green  are  the  woods  now  with 
their  varied  greenness.  Green  are  the 
pastures.  Green  here  and  there  are  the 
fields :  with  the  bluish  green  of  young 
oats  and  wheat ;  with  the  gray  green  of 
young  barley  and  rye :  with  orderly  dots 
of  dull  dark  green  in  vast  array  —  the 
hills  of  Indian  maize*  But  as  the  eye 


Hemp  1 1 

sweeps  the  whole  landscape  undulating 
far  and  near,  from  the  hues  of  tree,  pas 
ture,  and  corn  of  every  kind,  it  turns  to 
the  color  of  the  hemp.  With  that  in 
view,  all  other  shades  in  nature  seem  dead 
and  count  for  nothing.  Far  reflected, 
conspicuous,  brilliant,  strange;  masses  of 
living  emerald,  saturated  with  blazing  sun 
light. 

Darker,  always  darker  turns  the  hemp 
as  it  rushes  upward :  scarce  darker  as  to 
the  stemless  stalks  which  are  hidden  now; 
but  darker  in  the  tops.  Yet  here  two 
shades  of  greenness  :  the  male  plants  paler, 
smaller,  maturing  earlier,  dying  first ;  the 
females  darker,  taller,  living  longer,  more 
luxuriant  of  foliage  and  flowering  heads. 

A  hundred  days  from  the  sowing,  and 
those  flowering  heads  have  come  forth 
with  their  mass  of  leaves  and  bloom  and 
earliest  fruits,  elastic,  swaying  six,  ten, 
twelve  feet  from  the  ground  and  ripe  for 
cutting.  A  hundred  days  reckoning  from 
the  last  of  March  or  the  last  of  April,  so 
that  it  is  July,  it  is  August.  And  now9 


12  The  Reign  of  Law 

borne  far  through  the  steaming  air  floats  an 
odor,  balsamic,  startling :  the  odor  of  those 
plumes  and  stalks  and  blossoms  from 
which  is  exuding  freely  the  narcotic  resin 
of  the  great  nettle.  The  nostril  expands 
quickly,  the  lungs  swell  out  deeply  to 
draw  it  in :  fragrance  once  known  in 
childhood,  ever  in  the  memory  afterward 
and  able  to  bring  back  to  the  wanderer 
homesick  thoughts  of  midsummer  days  in 
the  shadowy,  many-toned  woods,  over  into 
which  is  blown  the  smell  of  the  hemp- 
fields. 

Who  apparently  could  number  the 
acres  of  these  in  the  days  gone  by?  A 
land  of  hemp,  ready  for  the  cutting !  The 
oats  heavy-headed,  rustling,  have  turned 
to  gold  and  been  stacked  in  the  stubble  or 
stored  in  the  lofts  of  white,  bursting  barnsc 
The  heavy-headed,  rustling  wheat  has 
turned  to  gold  and  been  stacked  in  the 
stubble  or  sent  through  the  whirling 
thresher.  The  barley  and  the  rye  are 
garnered  and  gone,  the  landscape  has 
many  bare  and  open  spaces.  But  separak 


Hemp  i  3 

ing  these  everywhere,  rise  the  fields  of 
Indian  corn  now  in  blade  and  tassel ;  and 
-  more  valuable  than  all  else  that  has  been 
sown  and  harvested  or  remains  to  be  — 
everywhere  the  impenetrable  thickets  of 
the  hemp. 

Impenetrable!  For  close  together 
stand  the  stalks,  making  common  cause 
for  soil  and  light,  each  but  one  of  many, 
the  fibre  being  better  when  so  grown  — 
as  is  also  the  fibre  of  men.  Impenetrable 
and  therefore  weedless  ;  for  no  plant  life 
can  flourish  there,  nor  animal  nor  bird. 
Scarce  a  beetle  runs  bewilderingly  through 
those  forbidding  colossal  solitudes.  The 
field-sparrow  will  flutter  away  from  pollen- 
bearing  to  pollen-receiving  top,  trying  to 
beguile  you  from  its  nest  hidden  near  the 
edge.  The  crow  and  the  blackbird  will 
seern  to  love  it,  having  a  keen  eye  for  the 
cutworm,  its  only  enemy.  The  quail  does 
love  it,  not  for  itself,  but  for  its  protec 
tion,  leading  her  brood  into  its  labyrinths 
out  of  the  dusty  road  when  danger  draws 
near.  Best  of  all  winged  creatures  it  is 


14  The  Reign  of  Law 

loved  by  the  iris-eyed,  burnish-breasted, 
murmuring  doves,  already  beginning  to 
gather  in  the  deadened  tree-tops  with 
crops  eager  for  the  seed.  Well  remem 
bered  also  by  the  long-flight  passenger 
pigeon,  coming  into  the  land  for  the  mast 
Best  of  all  wild  things  whose  safety  lies 
not  in  the  wing  but  in  the  foot,  it  is  loved 
by  the  hare  for  its  young,  for  refuge. 
Those  lithe,  velvety,  summer-thin  bodies ! 
Observe  carefully  the  tops  of  the  still 
hemp :  are  they  slightly  shaken  ?  Among 
the  bases  of  those  stalks  a  cotton-tail  is 
threading  its  way  inward  beyond  reach  of 
its  pursuer.  Are  they  shaken  violently, 
parted  clean  and  wide  to  right  and  left? 
It  is  the  path  of  the  dog  following  the  hot 
scent  —  ever  baffled. 

A  hundred  days  to  lift  out  of  those 
tiny  seed  these  powerful  stalks,  hollow, 
hairy,  covered  with  their  tough  fibre, — 
that  strength  of  cables  when  the  big  ships 
are  tugged  at  by  the  joined  fury  of  wind 
and  ocean.  And  now  some  morning  at 
the  corner  of  the  field  stand  the  black 


Hemp  15 

men  with  hooks  and  whetstones.  The 
hook,  a  keen,  straight  blade,  bent  at  right 
angles  to  the  handle  two  feet  from  the 
hand.  Let  these  men  be  the  strongest ;  no 
weakling  can  handle  the  hemp  from  seed 
to  seed  again.  A  heart,  the  doors  and 
walls  of  which  are  in  perfect  order, 
through  which  flows  freely  the  full  stream 
of  a  healthy  man's  red  blood ;  lungs  deep, 
clear,  easily  filled,  easily  emptied ;  a  body 
that  can  bend  and  twist  and  be  straight 
ened  again  in  ceaseless  rhythmical  move 
ment  ;  limbs  tireless ;  the  very  spirit  of 
primeval  man  conquering  primeval  nature 
—  all  these  go  into  the  cutting  of  the  hemp. 
The  leader  strides  to  the  edge,  and  throw 
ing  forward  his  left  arm,  along  which  the 
muscles  play,  he  grasps  as  much  as  it  will 
embrace,  bends  the  stalks  over,  and  with 
his  right  hand  draws  the  blade  through 
them  an  inch  or  more  from  the  ground. 
When  he  has  gathered  his  armful,  he  turns 
and  flings  it  down  behind  him,  so  that  it 
lies  spread  out,  covering  when  fallen  the 
same  space  it  filled  while  standing.  And 


1 6  The  Reign  of  Law 

so  he  crosses  the  broad  acres,  and  so  each 
of  the  big  black  followers,  stepping  one  by 
one  to  a  place  behind  him,  until  the  long, 
wavering,  whitish  green  swaths  of  the  pros 
trate  hemp  lie  shimmering  across  the  fields. 
Strongest  now  is  the  smell  of  it,  impreg 
nating  the  clothing  of  the  men,  spreading 
far  throughout  the  air. 

So  it  lies  a  week  or  more  drying,  dying, 
till  the  sap  is  out  of  the  stalks,  till  leaves 
and  blossoms  and  earliest  ripened  or  un- 
ripened  fruits  wither  and  drop  off,  giving 
back  to  the  soil  the  nourishment  they  have 
drawn  from  it ;  the  whole  top  being  thus 
otherwise  wasted  —  that  part  of  the  hemp 
which  every  year  the  dreamy  millions  of 
the  Orient  still  consume  in  quantities  be 
yond  human  computation,  and  for  the  love 
of  which  the  very  history  of  this  plant  is 
lost  in  the  antiquity  of  India  and  Persia, 
its  home  —  land  of  narcotics  and  desires 
and  dreams. 

Then  the  rakers  with  enormous  wooden 
rakes  ;  they  draw  the  stalks  into  bundles, 
tying  each  with  the  hemp  itself.  Following 


Hemp  I 7 

the  binders,  move  the  wagon-beds  or  slides, 
gathering  the  bundles  and  carrying  them 
to  where,  huge,  flat,  and  round,  the  stacks 
begin  to  rise.  At  last  these  are  well  built ; 
the  gates  of  the  field  are  closed  or  the  bars 
put  up;  wagons  and  laborers  are  gone; 
the  brown  fields  stand  deserted. 

One  day  something  is  gone  from  earth 
and  sky:  Autumn  has  come,  season  of  scales 
and  balances,  when  the  Earth,  brought  to 
judgment  for  its  fruits,  says,  "  I  have  done 
what  1  could  —  now  let  me  rest !  " 

Fall !  — •  and  everywhere  the  sights  and 
sounds  of  falling.  In  the  woods,  through 
the  cool  silvery  air,  the  leaves,  so  indispen 
sable  once,  so  useless  now.  Bright  day 
after  bright  day,  dripping  night  after  drip 
ping  night,  the  never-ending  filtering  or 
gusty  fall  of  leaves.  The  fall  of  walnuts, 
dropping  from  bare  boughs  with  muffled 
boom  into  the  deep  grass.  The  fall  of  the 
hickory-nut,  rattling  noisily  down  through 
the  scaly  limbs  and  scattering  its  hulls 
among  the  stones  of  the  brook  below, 


1 8  The  Reign  of  Law 

The  fall  of  buckeyes,  rolling  like  balls  of 
mahogany  into  the  little  dust  paths  made 
by  sheep  in  the  hot  months  when  they  had 
sought  those  roofs  of  leaves.  The  fall  of 
acorns,  leaping  out  of  their  matted  green 
cups  as  they  strike  the  rooty  earth.  The 
fall  of  red  haw,  persimmon,  and  pawpaw, 
and  the  odorous  wild  plum  in  its  valley 
thickets.  The  fall  of  all  seeds  whatsoever 
of  the  forest,  now  made  ripe  in  their  high 
places  and  sent  back  to  the  ground,  there 
to  be  folded  in  against  the  time  when  they 
shall  arise  again  as  the  living  generations ; 
the  homing,  downward  flight  of  the  seeds 
in  the  many-colored  woods  all  over  the 
quiet  land. 

In  the  fields,  too,  the  sights  and  sounds 
of  falling,  the  fall  of  the  standing  fatness. 
The  silent  fall  of  the  tobacco,  to  be  hung 
head  downward  in  fragrant  sheds  and 
barns.  The  felling  whack  of  the  corn- 
knife  and  the  rustling  of  the  blades,  as 
the  workman  gathers  within  his  arm  the 
topheavy  stalks  and  presses  them  into  the 
bulging  shock.  The  fall  of  pumpkins  into 


Hemp  i 9 

the  slow-drawn  wagons,  the  shaded  side  of 
them  still  white  with  the  morning  rime. 
In  the  orchards,  the  fall  of  apples  shaken 
thunderously  down,  and  the  piling  of  these 
in  sprawling  heaps  near  the  cider  mills. 
In  the  vineyards  the  fall  of  sugaring  grapes 
into  the  basket  and  the  bearing  of  them 
to  the  winepress  in  the  cool  sunshine, 
where  there  is  th'j  late  droning  of  bees 
about  the  sweet  pomace. 

But  of  all  that  the  earth  has  yielded 
with  or  without  the  farmer's  help,  of  all 
that  he  can  call  his  own  within  the  limits 
of  his  land,  nothing  pleases  him  better 
than  those  still,  brown  fields  where  the 
shapely  stacks  stand  amid  the  deadened 
trees.  Two  months  have  passed,  the  work 
men  are  at  it  again.  The  stacks  are  torn 
down,  the  bundles  scattered,  the  hemp 
spread  out  as  once  before.  There  to  lie 
till  it  shall  be  dew-retted  or  rotted ;  there 
to  suffer  freeze  and  thaw,  chill  rains,  lock 
ing  frosts  and  loosening  snows  —  all  the 
action  of  the  elements  —  until  the  gums 
holding  together  the  filaments  of  the  fibre 


2O  The  Reign  of  Law 

rot  out  and  dissolve,  until  the  bast  be  sepa 
rated  from  the  woody  portion  of  the  stalk, 
and  the  stalk  itself  be  decayed  and  easily 
broken. 

Some  day  you  walk  across  the  spread 
hemp,  your  foot  goes  through  at  each 
step,  you  stoop  and  taki .  g  several  stalks, 
snap  them  readily  in  your  fingers.  The 
ends  stick  out  clean  apart ;  and  lo !  hang 
ing  between  them,  there  it  is  at  last  —  a 
festoon  of  wet,  coarse,  dark  gray  riband, 
wealth  of  the  hemp,  sail  of  the  wild  Scyth 
ian  centuries  before  Horace  ever  sang  of 
him,  sail  of  the  Roman,  dress  of  the  Saxon 
and  Celt,  dress  of  the  Kentucky  pioneer. 

The  rakers  reappear  at  intervals  of  dry 
weather,  and  draw  the  hemp  into  armfuls 
and  set  it  up  in  shocks  of  convenient  size, 
wide  flared  at  the  bottom,  well  pressed  in 
and  bound  at  the  top,  so  that  the  slanting 
sides  may  catch  the  drying  sun  and  the 
sturd}^  base  resist  the  strong  winds.  And 
now  the  fields  are  as  the  dark  brown 
camps  of  armies  —  each  shock  a  soldier's 
tent.  Yet  not  dark  always ;  at  times  snow- 


Hemp  2 I 

covered;  and  then  the  white  tents  gleam 
for  miles  in  the  winter  sunshine  —  the 
snow-white  tents  of  the  camping  hemp. 

Throughout  the  winter  and  on  into  early 
spring,  as  days  may  be  warm  or  the  hemp 
dry,  the  breaking  continues.  At  each 
nightfall,  cleaned  and  baled,  it  is  hauled 
on  wagon-beds  or  slides  to  the  barns  or 
the  hemphouses,  where  it  is  weighed  for 
the  work  and  wages  of  the  day. 

Last  of  all,  the  brakes  having  been  taken 
from  the  field,  some  night  —  dear  sport 
for  the  lads  !  —  takes  place  the  burning 
of  the  "  hempherds,"  thus  returning  their 
elements  to  the  soil.  To  kindle  a  handful 
of  tow  and  fling  it  as  a  firebrand  into 
one  of  those  masses  of  tinder;  to  see  the 
flames  spread  and  the  sparks  rush  like 
swarms  of  red  bees  skyward  through  the 
smoke  into  the  awful  abysses  of  the  night; 
to  run  from  gray  heap  to  gray  heap,  ignit 
ing  the  long  line  of  signal  fires,  until  the 
whole  earth  seems  a  conflagration  and  the 
heavens  are  as  rosy  as  at  morn ;  to  look 
far  away  and  descry  on  the  horizon  an 


22  The  Reign  of  Law 

array  of  answering  lights;  not  in  one 
direction  only,  but  leagues  away,  to  see 
the  fainter  ever  fainter  glow  of  burning 
hempherds  —  this,  too,  is  one  of  the  ex 
periences,  one  of  the  memories. 

And  now  along  the  turnpikes  the  great 
loaded  creaking  wagons  pass  slowly  to  the 
towns,  bearing  the  hemp  to  the  factories, 
thence  to  be  scattered  over  land  and  sea, 
Some  day,  when  the  winds  of  March  are 
dying  dowrn,  the  sower  enters  the  field 
and  begins  where  he  began  twelve  months 
before. 

A  round  year  of  the  earth's  changes 
enters  into  the  creation  of  the  hemp.  The 
planet  has  described  its  vast  orbit  ere  it  be 
grown  and  finished.  All  seasons  are  its 
servitors ;  all  contradictions  and  extremes 
of  nature  meet  in  its  making.  The  vernal 
patience  of  the  warming  soil ;  the  long, 
fierce  arrows  of  the  summer  heat,  the  long, 
silvery  arrows  of  the  summer  rain ;  autumn's 
dead  skies  and  sobbing  winds;  winter's 
sternest,  all-tightening  frosts.  Of  none 
but  strong  virtues  is  it  the  suma  Sickness 


Hemp  23 

or  infirmity  it  knows  not.  It  will  have  a 
mother  young  and  vigorous,  or  none ;  an 
old  or  weak  or  exhausted  soil  cannot  pro 
duce  it.  It  will  endure  no  roof  of  shade, 
basking  only  in  the  eye  of  the  fatherly  sun, 
and  demanding  the  whole  sky  for  the  walls 
of  its  nursery. 

Ah !  type,  too,  of  our  life,  which  also  is 
earth-sown,  earth-rooted ;  which  must  strug 
gle  upward,  be  cut  down,  rotted  and  broken, 
ere  the  separation  take  place  between  our 
dross  and  our  worth  —  poor  perishable 
shard  and  immortal  fibre.  Oh,  the  mys 
tery,  the  mystery  of  that  growth  from  the 
casting  of  the  soul  as  a  seed  into  the  dark 
earth,  until  the  time  when,  led  through  all 
natural  changes  and  cleansed  of  weakness, 
it  is  borne  from  the  fields  of  its  nativity 
for  the  long  servicec 


THE  century  just  past  had  not  begui 
the  race  of  its  many-footed  years  when  a 
neighborhood  of  Kentucky  pioneers,  set 
tled  throughout  the  green  valleys  of  the 
silvery  Elkhorn,  built  a  church  in  the 
wilderness,  and  constituted  themselves  a 
worshipping  association.  For  some  time 
peace  of  one  sort  prevailed  among  them,  if 
no  peace  of  any  other  sort  was  procurable 
around.  But  by  and  by  there  arose  secta 
rian  quarrels  with  other  backwoods  folk 
who  also  wished  to  worship  God  in  Ken 
tucky,  and  hot  personal  disputes  among  the 
members  —  as  is  the  eternal  law.  So  that 
the  church  grew  as  grow  infusorians  and 
certain  worms,  —  by  fissure,  by  periodical 
splittings  and  breakings  to  pieces,  each 
spontaneous  division  becoming  a  new  or 
24 


The  Reign  of  Law  25 

ganism.  The  first  church,  however,  for 
all  that  it  split  off  and  cast  off,  seemed  to 
lose  nothing  of  its  vitality  or  fighting 
qualities  spiritual  and  physical  (the  strenu 
ous  life  in  those  days !) ;  and  there  came  a 
time  when  it  took  offence  at  one  particu 
lar  man  in  its  membership  on  account  oi 
the  liberality  of  his  religious  opinions 
This  settler,  an  old  Indian  fighter  whose 
vast  estate  lay  about  halfway  between  the 
church  and  the  nearest  village,  had  built 
himself  a  good  brick  house  in  the  Virgin 
ian  style  ;  and  it  was  his  pleasure  and  his 
custom  to  ask  travelling  preachers  to  rest 
under  his  roof  as  they  rode  hither  and 
thither  throughout  the  wilderness — Zion's 
weather-beaten,  solitary  scouts. 

While  giving  entertainment  to  man  and 
beast,  if  a  Sunday  came  round,  he  would 
further  invite  his  guest,  no  matter  what 
kind  of  faith  the  vessel  held,  if  it  only  held 
any  faith,  to  ride  with  him  through  the 
woods  and  preach  to  his  brethren.  This 
was  the  front  of  his  offending.  For  since 
he  seemed  brother  to  men  of  every  creed, 


26  The  Reign  of  Law 

they  charged  that  he  was  no  longer  of 
their  faith  (the  only  true  one).  They  con 
sidered  his  case,  and  notified  him  that  it 
was  their  duty  under  God  to  expel  him. 

After  the  sermon  one  Sunday  morning 
of  summer  the  scene  took  place.  They 
had  asked  what  he  had  to  say,  and  si 
lence  had  followed.  Not  far  from  the 
church  doors  the  bright  Elkhorn  (now 
nearly  dry)  swept  past  in  its  stately  shim 
mering  flood.  The  rush  of  the  water  over 
the  stopped  mill-wheel,  that  earliest  wood 
land  music  of  civilization,  sounded  loud 
amid  the  suspense  and  the  stillness. 

He  rose  slowly  from  his  seat  on  the 
bench  in  front  of  the  pulpit  —  for  he  was 
a  deacon  —  and  turned  squarely  at  them; 
speechless  just  then,  for  he  was  choking 
with  rage. 

"  My  brethren,"  he  said  at  length  slowly, 
for  he  would  not  speak  until  he  had  him 
self  under  control,  "  I  think  we  all  re 
member  what  it  is  to  be  persecuted  for 
religion's  sake.  Long  before  we  came  to 
gether  in  Spottsylvania  County,  Virginia, 


The  Reign  of  Law  27 

and  organized  ourselves  into  a  church  and 
travelled  as  a  church  over  the  mountains 
into  this  wilderness,  worshipping  by  the 
way,  we  knew  what  it  was  to  be  persecuted. 
Some  of  us  were  sent  to  jail  for  preaching 
the  Gospel  and  kept  there ;  we  preached  to 
the  people  through  the  bars  of  our  dun 
geons.  Mobs  were  collected  outside  to 
drown  our  voices ;  we  preached  the  louder 
and  some  jeered,  but  some  felt  sorry  and 
began  to  serve  God.  They  burned  matches 
and  pods  of  red  pepper  to  choke  us ;  they 
hired  strolls  to  beat  drums  that  we  might 
not  be  heard  for  the  din.  Some  of  us 
knew  what  it  was  to  have  live  snakes 
thrown  into  our  assemblages  while  at  wor 
ship  ;  or  nests  of  live  hornets.  Or  to  have 
a  crowd  rush  into  the  church  with  farming 
tools  and  whips  and  clubs.  Or  to  see  a 
gun  levelled  at  one  of  us  in  the  pulpit,  and 
to  be  dispersed  with  firearms.  Harder 
than  any  of  these  things  to  stand,  we  have 
known  what  it  is  to  be  slandered.  But 
no  single  man  of  us,  thank  God,  ever 
stopped  for  these  things  or  for  anything. 


28  The  Reign  of  Law 

Thirty  years  and  more  this  lasted,  until 
we  and  all  such  as  we  found  a  friend  in 
Patrick  Henry.  Now,  we  hear  that  by 
statute  all  religious  believers  in  Virginia 
have  been  made  equal  as  respects  the 
rights  and  favors  of  the  law. 

"  But  you  know  it  was  partly  to  escape 
intolerable  tyranny  that  we  left  our  mother 
country  and  travelled  a  path  paved  with 
suffering  and  lined  with  death  into  this 
wilderness.  For  in  this  virgin  land  we 
thought  we  should  be  free  to  worship  God 
according  to  our  consciences. 

"  Since  we  arrived  you  know  what  our 
life  has  been,  —  how  we  have  fought  and 
toiled  and  suffered  all  things  together. 
You  recall  how  lately  it  was  that  when  we 
met  in  the  woods  for  worship,  —  having 
no  church  and  no  seats,  —  we  men  listened 
and  sang  and  prayed  with  our  rifles  on 
our  shoulders." 

He  paused,  for  the  memories  hurt  him 
cruelly. 

"  And  now  you  notify  me  that  you  in 
tend  to  expel  me  from  this  church  as  a 


The  Reign  of  Law  29 

man  no  longer  fit  to  worship  my  Maker  in 
your  company.  Do  you  bring  any  charge 
against  my  life,  my  conduct  ?  None. 
Nothing  but  that,  as  a  believer  in  the 
living  God  —  whom  honestly  I  try  to  serve 
according  to  my  erring  light  —  I  can  no 
longer  have  a  seat  among  you  —  not  be 
lieving  as  you  believe.  But  this  is  the 
same  tyranny  that  you  found  unendurable 
in  Spottsylvania.  You  have  begun  it  in 
Kentucky.  You  have  been  at  it  already 
how  long?  Well,  my  brethren,  I'll  soon 
end  your  tyranny  over  me.  You  need  not 
titrn  me  out,  And  I  need  not  change 
my  religious  opinions.  I  will  go  out. 
But- 

He  wheeled  round  to  the  rough  pulpit 
on  which  lay  the  copy  of  the  Bible  that 
they  had  brought  with  them  from  Vir 
ginia,  their  Ark  of  the  Covenant  on  the 
way,  seized  it,  and  faced  them  again. 
He  strode  toward  the  congregation  as 
far  as  the  benches  would  allow  —  not  see 
ing  clearly,  for  he  was  sightless  with  his 
tears. 


30  The  Reign  of  Law 

"  But,"  he  roared,  and  as  he  spoke  he 
struck  the  Bible  repeatedly  with  his 
clenched  fist,  "by  the  Almighty,  I  will 
build  a  church  of  my  own  to  Him !  To 
Him !  do  you  hear  ?  not  to  your  opinions 
of  Him  nor  mine  nor  any  man's !  I  will 
cut  off  a  parcel  of  my  farm  and  make  a 
perpetual  deed  of  it  in  the  courts,  to  be 
held  in  trust  forever.  And  while  the  earth 
stands,  it  shall  stand,  free  to  all  Christian 
believers.  I  will  build  a  school-house  and 
a  meeting-house,  where  any  child  may  be 
free  to  learn  and  any  man  or  woman  free 
to  worship." 

He  put  the  Bible  back  with  shaking 
arms  and  turned  on  them  again. 

"  As  for  you,  my  brethren,"  he  said,  his 
face  purple  and  distorted  with  passion, 
"  you  may  be  saved  in  your  crooked,  nar 
row  way,  if  the  mercy  of  God  is  able  to 
do  it.  But  you  are  close  to  the  jaws  of 
Hell  this  day !  " 

He  went  over  into  a  corner  for  his  hat, 
took  his  wife  by  the  hand  and  held  it 
tightly,  gathered  the  flock  of  his  children 


The  Reign  of  Law  31 

before  him,  and  drove  them  out  of  the 
church.  He  mounted  his  horse,  lifted  his 
wife  to  her  seat  behind  him,  saw  his  chil 
dren  loaded  on  two  other  horses,  and,  lead 
ing  the  way  across  the  creek,  disappeared 
in  the  wilderness. 

II 

SOME  sixty-five  years  later,  one  hot  day 
of  midsummer  in  1865 — one  Saturday 
afternoon  —  a  lad  was  cutting  weeds  in  a 
woodland  pasture ;  a  big,  raw-boned,  de 
mure  boy  of  near  eighteen. 

He  had  on  heavy  shoes,  the  toes  green 
with  grass  stain ;  the  leather  so  seasoned 
by  morning  dews  as  to  be  like  wood  for 
hardness.  These  were  to  keep  his  feet 
protected  from  briers  or  from  the  bees 
scattered  upon  the  wild  white  clover  or 
from  the  terrible  hidden  thorns  of  the 
honey-locust.  No  socks.  A  pair  of  scant 
homespun  trousers,  long  outgrown.  A 
coarse  clean  shirt.  His  big  shock-head 
thatched  with  yellow  straw,  a  dilapidated 
sun-and-rain  shed. 


32  The  Reign  of  Law 

The  lanky  young  giant  cut  and  cut  and 
cut :  great  purple-bodied  poke,  strung  with 
crimson-juiced  seed ;  great  burdock,  its 
green  burrs  a  plague ;  great  milkweed,  its 
creamy  sap  gushing  at  every  gash ;  great 
thistles,  thousand-nettled;  great  ironweed, 
plumed  with  royal  purple ;  now  and  then 
a  straggling  bramble  prone  with  velvety 
berries  —  the  outpost  of  a  patch  behind 
him ;  now  and  then  —  more  carefully,  lest 
he  notch  his  blade  —  low  sprouts  of  wild 
cane,  survivals  of  the  impenetrable  brakes 
of  pioneer  days.  All  these  and  more,  the 
rank,  mighty  measure  of  the  soil's  fertility 
• — low  down. 

Measure  of  its  fertility  aloft,  the  tops  of 
the  trees,  from  which  the  call  of  the  red 
headed  woodpecker  sounded  as  faint  as 
the  memory  of  a  sound  and  the  bark  of 
the  squirrels  was  elfin-thin.  A  hot  crowded 
land,  crammed  with  undergrowth  and  over 
growth  wherever  a  woodland  stood ;  and 
around  every  woodland  dense  cornfields; 
or,  denser  still,  the  leagues  of  swaying 
hemp.  The  smell  of  this  now  lay  heavy 


The  Reign  of  Law  33 

on  the  air,  seeming  to  be  dragged  hither 
and  thither  like  a  slow  scum  on  the  breeze, 
like  a  moss  on  a  sluggish  pond.  A  deep 
robust  land ;  and  among  its  growths  he 
—  this  lad,  in  his  way  a  self-unconscious 
human  weed,  the  seed  of  his  kind  borne  in 
from  far  some  generations  back,  but  spring 
ing  out  of  the  soil  naturally  now,  sap  of  its 
sap,  strength  of  its  strength. 

He  paused  by  and  by  and  passed  his 
forefinger  across  his  forehead,  brushing  the 
sweat  away  from  above  his  quiet  eyes. 
He  moistened  the  tip  of  his  thumb  and 
slid  it  along  the  blade  of  his  hemp  hook  — 
he  was  using  that  for  lack  of  a  scythe. 
Turning,  he  walked  back  to  the  edge  of 
the  brier  thicket,  sat  down  in  the  shade  of 
a  black  walnut,  threw  off  his  tattered  head 
gear,  and,  reaching  for  his  bucket  of  water 
covered  with  poke  leaves,  lifted  it  to  his 
lips  and  drank  deeply,  gratefully.  Then 
he  drew  a  whetstone  from  his  pocket,  spat 
on  it,  and  fell  to  sharpening  his  blade. 

The  heat  of  his  work,  the  stifling  air, 
the  many-toned  woods,  the  sense  of  the 


34  The  Reign  of  Law 

vast  summering  land  —  these  things  were 
not  in  his  thoughts.  Some  days  before, 
despatched  from  homestead  to  homestead, 
rumors  had  reached  him  away  off  here  at 
work  on  his  father's  farm,  of  a  great  uni 
versity  to  be  opened  the  following  autumn 
at  Lexington.  The  like  of  it  with  its 
many  colleges  Kentucky,  the  South,  the 
Mississippi  valley  had  never  seen.  It  had 
been  the  talk  among  the  farming  people 
in  their  harvest  fields,  at  the  cross-roads, 
on  their  porches  —  the  one  deep  sensation 
among  them  since  the  war. 

For  solemn,  heart-stirring  as  such  tid 
ings  would  have  been  at  any  other  time, 
more  so  at  this.  Here,  on  the  tableland 
of  this  unique  border  state,  Kentucky  — 
between  the  halves  of  the  nation  lately  at 
strife  —  scene  of  their  advancing  and  re 
treating  armies  —  pit  of  a  frenzied  com 
monwealth  —  here  was  to  arise  this  calm 
university,  pledge  of  the  new  times,  plea 
for  the  peace  and  amity  of  learning,  fresh 
chance  for  study  of  the  revelation  of  the 
Lord  of  Hosts  and  God  of  battles.  The 


The  Reign  of  Law  35 

animosities  were  over,  the  humanities  re- 
begun. 

Can  you  remember  your  youth  well 
enough  to  be  able  to  recall  the  time  when 
the  great  things  happened  for  which  you 
seemed  to  be  waiting  ?  The  boy  who  is 
to  be  a  soldier  —  one  day  he  hears  a  dis 
tant  bugle :  at  once  he  knows.  A  second 
glimpses  a  bellying  sail :  straightway  the 
ocean  path  beckons  to  him.  A  third  dis 
covers  a  college,  and  toward  its  kindly 
lamps  of  learning  turns  young  eyes  that 
have  been  kindled  and  will  stay  kindled 
to  the  end. 

For  some  years  this  particular  lad,  this 
obscure  item  in  Nature's  plan  which  al 
ways  passes  understanding,  had  been  grow 
ing  more  unhappy  in  his  place  in  creation. 
By  temperament  he  was  of  a  type  the  most 
joyous  and  self-reliant  —  those  sure  signs 
of  health ;  and  discontent  now  was  due 
to  the  fact  that  he  had  outgrown  his  place. 
Parentage  —  a  farm  and  its  tasks  —  a 
country  neighborhood  and  its  narrowness 
- — what  more  are  these  sometimes  than  a 


36  The  Reign  of  Law 

starting-point  for  a  young  life ;  as  a  flower 
pot  might  serve  to  sprout  an  oak,  and  as  the 
oak  would  inevitably  reach  the  hour  when 
it  would  either  die  or  burst  out,  root  and 
branch,  into  the  whole  heavens  and  the 
earth ;  as  the  shell  and  yolk  of  an  egg  are 
the  starting-point  for  the  wing  and  eye  of 
the  eagle.  One  thing  only  he  had  not  out 
grown,  in  one  thing  only  he  was  not  un 
happy:  his  religious  nature.  This  had 
always  been  in  him  as  breath  was  in  him, 
as  blood  was  in  him :  it  was  his  life.  Dis 
satisfied  now  with  his  position  in  the 
world,  it  was  this  alone  that  kept  him  con 
tented  in  himself.  Often  the  religious  are 
the  weary ;  and  perhaps  nowhere  else  does 
a  perpetual  vision  of  Heaven  so  disclose 
itself  to  the  weary  as  above  lonely  toiling 
fields.  The  lad  had  long  been  lifting  his 
inner  eye  to  this  vision. 

When,  therefore,  the  tidings  of  the 
university  with  its  Bible  College  reached 
him,  whose  outward  mould  was  hardship, 
whose  inner  bliss  was  piety,  at  once  they 
fitted  his  ear  as  the  right  sound,  as  the 


The  Reign  of  Law  37 

gladness  of  long  awaited  intelligence.  It 
was  bugle  to  the  soldier,  sail  to  the  sailor, 
lamp  of  learning  to  the  innate  student 
At  once  he  knew  that  he  was  going  to 
the  university — sometime,  somehow  —  and 
from  that  moment  felt  no  more  discontent 
void,  restlessness,  nor  longing. 

It  was  of  this  university,  then,  that  he 
was  happily  day-dreaming  as  he  whetted 
his  hemp  hook  in  the  depths  of  the  woods 
that  Saturday  afternoon.  Sitting  low 
amid  heat  and  weeds  and  thorns,  he  was 
already  as  one  who  had  climbed  above  the 
earth's  eternal  snow-line  and  sees  only 
white  peaks  and  pinnacles  —  the  last  sub 
limities. 

He  felt  impatient  for  to-morrow.  One 
of  the  professors  of  the  university,  of  the 
faculty  of  the  Bible  College,  had  been 
travelling  over  the  state  during  the  sum 
mer,  pleading  its  cause  before  the  people. 
He  had  come  into  that  neighborhood  to 
preach  and  to  plead.  The  lad  would  be 
there  to  hear. 

The  church  in  which  the  professor  was 


38  The  Reign  of  Law 

to  plead  for  learning  and  religion  was  the 
one  first  set  up  in  the  Kentucky  wilder 
ness  as  a  house  of  religious  liberty;  and 
the  lad  was  a  great-grandchild  of  the 
founder  of  that  church,  here  emerging  mys 
teriously  from  the  deeps  of  life  four  gen 
erations  down  the  line. 


Ill 


THE  church  which  David's  grim  old 
Indian-fighting  great-grandfather  had  dedi 
cated  to  freedom  of  belief  in  the  wilder 
ness,  cutting  off  a  parcel  of  his  lands  as  he 
had  hotly  sworn  and  building  on  it  a 
schoolhouse  also,  stood  some  miles  distant 
across  the  country.  The  vast  estate  of 
the  pioneer  had  been  cut  to  pieces  for  his 
many  sons.  With  the  next  generation  the 
law  of  partible  inheritance  had  further  sub 
divided  each  of  these ;  so  that  in  David's 
time  a  single  small  farm  was  all  that  had 
fallen  to  his  father;  and  his  father  had 
never  increased  it.  The  church  was  situ 
ated  on  what  had  been  the  opposite 


The  Reign  of  Law  39 

boundary  of  the  original  grant.  But  he 
with  most  of  the  other  boys  in  the  neigh 
borhood  had  received  his  simple  education 
in  that  school;  and  he  had  always  gone 
to  worship  under  that  broad-minded  roof, 
whatsoever  the  doctrines  and  dogmas  haply 
preached. 

These  doctrines  and  dogmas  of  a  truth 
were  varied  and  conflicting  enough;  for 
the  different  flocks  and  herds  of  Protes 
tant  believers  with  their  parti-colored 
guides  had  for  over  fifty  years  found  the 
place  a  very  convenient  strip  of  spiritual 
pasture :  one  congregation  now  grazing 
there  jealously  and  exclusively ;  afterwards 
another. 

On  this  quiet  bright  Sunday  morning  in 
the  summer  of  1865,  the  building  (a  better 
than  the  original  one,  which  had  long  be 
fore  been  destroyed  by  accidental  burn 
ing)  was  overcrowded  with  farming  folk, 
husbands  and  wives,  of  all  denominations 
in  the  neighborhood,  eager  to  hear  the 
new  plea,  the  new  pleader.  David's  father 
and  mother,  intense  sectarians  and  dully 


4O  The  Reign  of  Law 

pious  souls,  sat  among  them.  He  him 
self,  on  a  rearmost  bench,  was  wedged 
fast  between  two  other  lads  of  about  his 
own  age  —  they  dumb  with  dread  lest 
they  should  be  sent  away  to  this  university  u 

The  minister  soon  turned  the  course  of 
his  sermon  to  the  one  topic  that  was 
uppermost  and  bottommost  in  the  minds 
of  all 

He  bade  them  understand  now,  if  they 
had  never  realized  it  before,  that  from  the 
entrance  of  educated  men  and  women 
into  the  western  wilderness,  those  real 
founders  and  builders  of  the  great  com 
monwealth,  the  dream  of  the  Kentuckians 
had  been  the  establishment  of  a  broad, 
free  institution  of  learning  for  their  sons. 
He  gave  the  history  of  the  efforts  and  the 
failures  to  found  such  an  institution,  from 
the  year  1780  to  the  beginning  of  the 
Civil  War;  next  he  showed  how,  during 
those  few  awful  years,  the  slow  precious 
accumulations  of  that  preceding  time 
had  been  scattered ;  books  lost,  apparatus 
ruined,  the  furniture  of  lecture  rooms 


The  Reign  of  Law  41 

destroyed,    one    college    building    burned, 
another  seized  and  held  as  a  hospital  by 
the  federal  government;  and  he  concluded 
with  painting  for  them  a  vision  of  the  real 
university  which  was  now  to  arise  at  last, 
oldest,  best  passion  of  the  people,  measure 
of   the  height  and  breadth  of   the   better 
times:   knowing  no  North,  no  South,  no 
latitude,  creed,  bias,  or  political  end.     In 
speaking  of   its  magnificent    new  endow 
ments,  he  dwelt  upon  the  share  contributed 
by  the  liberal-minded  farmers  of  the  state, 
to  some  of  whom  he  was  speaking :  show 
ing  how,  forgetful  of  the  disappointments 
and   failures    of    their    fathers,    they   had 
poured  out  money  by  the  thousands  arid 
tens  of  thousands,  as  soon  as  the  idea  was 
presented  to  them  again  —  the  rearing  of 
a  great  institution  by  the  people  and  for 
the  people  in  their  own  land  for  the  train 
ing  of  their  sons,  that  they  might  not  be 
sent  away  to  New  England  or  to  Europe. 
His  closing  words  were  solemn  indeed; 
they  related   to  the  college  of  the   Bible, 
where  his  own  labors  were  to  be  performed. 


42  The  Reign  of  Law 

For  this,  he  declared,  he  pleaded  not  in  the 
name  of  the  new  state,  the  new  nation,  but 
in  the  name  of  the  Father.  The  work  of 
this  college  was  to  be  the  preparation  of 
young  men  for  the  Christian  ministry,  that 
they  might  go  into  all  the  world  and 
preach  the  Gospel.  One  truth  he  bade 
them  bear  in  mind :  that  this  training  was 
to  be  given  without  sectarian  theology; 
that  his  brethren  themselves  represented 
a  revolution  among  believers,  having  cast 
aside  the  dogmas  of  modern  teachers,  and 
taken,  as  the  one  infallible  guide  of  their 
faith  and  practice,  the  Bible  simply;  so 
making  it  their  sole  work  to  bring  all  mod 
ern  believers  together  into  one  church, 
and  that  one  church  the  church  of  the 
apostles. 

For  this  university,  for  this  college  of 
the  Bible  especially,  he  asked,  then,  the 
gift  and  consecration  of  their  sons. 

Toward  dusk  that  day  David's  father 
and  mother  were  sitting  side  by  side  on 
the  steps  of  their  front  porch.  Some  neigh- 


The  Reign  of  Law  43 

bors  who  had  spent  the  afternoon  with 
them  were  just  gone.  The  two  were  talk 
ing  over  in  low,  confidential  tones  certain 
subjects  discussed  less  frankly  with  their 
guests.  These  related  to  the  sermon  of 
the  morning,  to  the  university,  to  what 
boys  in  the  neighborhood  would  probably 
be  entered  as  students.  Their  neighbors 
had  asked  whether  David  would  go.  The 
father  and  mother  had  exchanged  quick 
glances  and  made  no  reply.  Something 
in  the  father's  mind  now  lay  like  worm 
wood  on  the  lips. 

He  sat  leaning  his  head  on  his  hand,  his 
eyes  on  the  ground,  brooding,  embittered. 

"  If  I  had  only  had  a  son  to  have  been 
proud  of !  "  he  muttered.  "  It's  of  no  use ; 
he  wouldn't  go.  It  isn't  in  him  to  take  an 
education." 

"  No,"  said  the  mother,  comforting  him 
resignedly,  after  a  pause  in  which  she 
seemed  to  be  surveying  the  boy's  whole 
life ;  "  it's  of  no  use ;  there  never  was  much 
in  David." 

M  Then  he  shall  work  !  "  cried  the  father 


44  The  Reign  of  Law 

striking  his  knee  with  clenched  fist.  "  I'll 
see  that  he  is  kept  at  work." 

Just  then  the  lad  came  round  from 
behind  the  house,  walking  rapidly.  Since 
dinner  he  had  been  off  somewhere,  alone, 
having  it  out  with  himself,  perhaps  shrink 
ing,  most  of  all,  from  this  first  exposure  to 
his  parents.  Such  an  ordeal  is  it  for  us 
to  reveal  what  we  really  are  to  those  who 
have  known  us  longest  and  have  never  dis 
covered  us. 

He  walked  quickly  around  and  stood 
before  them,  pallid  and  shaking  from  head 
to  foot. 

"Father!"  — 

There  was  filial  dutifulness  in  the  voice, 
but  what  they  had  never  heard  from  those 
lips  —  authority. 

"  I  am  going  to  the  university,  to  the 
Bible  College.  It  will  be  hard  for  you  to 
spare  me,  I  know,  and  I  don't  expect  to  go 
at  once.  But  I  shall  begin  my  prepara 
tions,  and  as  soon  as  it  is  possible  I  am 
going.  I  have  felt  that  you  and  mother 
ought  to  know  my  decision  at  once." 


The  Reign  of  Law  45 

As  he  stood  before  them  in  the  dusk  and 
saw  on  their  countenances  an  incredible 
change  of  expression,  he  naturally  mistook 
it,  and  spoke  again  with  more  authority. 

"  Don't  say  anything  to  me  now,  father ! 
And  don't  oppose  me  when  the  time  comes; 
it  would  be  useless.  Try  to  learn  while  I 
am  getting  ready  to  give  your  consent  and 
to  obtain  mother's.  That  is  all  I  have  to 
say." 

He  turned  quickly  away  and  passed  out 
of  the  yard  gate  toward  the  barn,  for  the 
evening  feeding. 

The  father  and  mother  followed  his  fig 
ure  with  their  eyes,  forgetting  each  other, 
as  long  as  it  remained  in  sight.  If  the 
flesh  of  their  son  had  parted  and  dis 
solved  away  into  nothingness,  disclosing 
a  hidden  light  within  him  like  the  even 
ing  star,  shining  close  to  their  faces, 
they  could  scarce  have  been  struck  more 
speechless.  But  after  a  few  moments 
they  had  adjusted  themselves  to  this  lofty 
annunciation.  The  mother,  unmindful  of 
what  she  had  just  said,  began  to  recall 


46  The  Reign  of  Law 

little  incidents  of  the  lad's  life  to  show  that 
this  was  what  he  was  always  meant  to  be. 
She  loosened  from  her  throat  the  breast 
pin  containing  the  hair  of  the  three  heads 
braided  together,  and  drew  her  husband's 
attention  to  it  with  a  smile.  He,  too,  dis 
regarding  his  disparagement  of  the  few 
minutes  previous,  now  began  to  admit  with 
warmth  how  good  a  mind  David  had  al 
ways  had.  He  prophesied  that  at  college 
he  would  outstrip  the  other  boys  from  that 
neighborhood.  This,  in  its  way,  was  also 
fresh  happiness  to  him;  for,  smarting  under 
his  poverty  among  rich  neighbors,  and 
fallen  from  the  social  rank  to  which  he 
was  actually  entitled,  he  now  welcomed 
the  secondary  joy  which  originates  in  the 
revenge  men  take  upon  each  other  through 
the  superiority  of  their  children. 

One  thing  both  agreed  in :  that  this 
explained  their  son.  He  had  certainly 
always  needed  an  explanation.  But  no 
wonder;  he  was  to  be  a  minister.  And 
who  had  a  right  to  understand  a  minister  ? 
He  was  entitled  to  be  peculiar. 


The  Reign  of  Law  47 

When  Davicl  came  in  to  supper  that 
night  and  took  his  seat,  shame-faced, 
frowning  and  blinking  at  the  candle-light, 
his  father  began  to  talk  to  him  as  he  had 
never  believed  possible ;  and  his  mother, 
placing  his  coffee  before  him,  let  her  hand 
rest  on  his  shoulder. 

He,  long  ahungered  for  their  affection 
and  finding  it  now  when  least  expected, 
filled  to  the  brim,  choked  at  every  morsel, 
got  away  as  soon  as  he  could  into  the 
sacred  joy  of  the  night.  Ah,  those  thrill 
ing  hours  when  the  young  disciple,  having 
for  the  first  time  confessed  openly  his  love 
of  the  Divine,  feels  that  the  Divine  returns 
his  love  and  accepts  his  service  1 

IV 

AUTUMN  came,  the  university  opened 
wide  its  harmonious  doors,  welcoming 
Youth  and  Peace. 

All  that  day  a  lad,  alone  at  his  field 
work  away  off  on  the  edge  of  the  blue- 
grass  lands,  toiled  as  one  listening  to  a 


48  The  Reign  of  Law 

sublime  sound  in  the  distance  —  the  tramp- 
ing,  tramping,  tramping  of  the  students 
as  they  assembled  from  the  farms  of  the 
state  and  from  other  states.  Some  boys 
out  of  his  own  neighborhood  had  started 
that  morning,  old  schoolfellows.  He  had 
gone  to  say  good-by;  had  sat  on  the  bed 
and  watched  them  pack  their  fine  new* 
trunks  —  cramming  these  with  fond  ma 
ternal  gifts  and  the  thoughtless  affluence 
of  necessary  and  unnecessary  things ;  had 
heard  all  the  wonderful  talk  about  classes 
and  professors  and  societies;  had  wrung 
their  hands  at  last  with  eyes  turned  away, 
that  none  might  see  the  look  in  them  — 
the  immortal  hunger. 

How  empty  now  the  whole  land  with 
out  those  two  or  three  boys !  Not  far 
away  across  the  fields,  soft- white  in  the 
clear  sunshine,  stood  the  home  of  one 
of  them  —  the  green  shutters  of  a  single 
upper  room  tightly  closed.  His  heart 
strings  were  twisted  tight  and  wrung  sore 
this  day ;  and  more  than  once  he  stopped 
short  in  his  work  (the  cutting  of  briers 


The  Reign  of  Law  49 

along  a  fence),  arrested  by  the  temptation 
to  throw  down  his  hook  and  go.  The 
sacred  arguments  were  on  his  side.  With 
out  choice  or  search  of  his  they  clamored 
and  battered  at  his  inner  ear  —  those  com 
mands  of  the  Gospels,  the  long  reverbera 
tions  of  that  absolute  Voice,  bidding  irres 
olute  workaday  disciples  leave  the  plough 
in  the  furrow,  leave  whatsoever  task  was 
impending  or  duty  uppermost  to  the  living 
or  the  dead,  and  follow,  —  "  Follow  Me  \  " 

Arguments,  verily,  had  he  in  plenty; 
but  raiment  —  no;  nor  scrip.  And  knew 
he  ever  so  little  of  the  world,  sure  he  felt 
of  this :  that  for  young  Elijahs  at  the  uni 
versity  there  were  no  ravens ;  nor  wild 
honey  for  St.  John;  nor  Galilean  basket- 
fuls  left  over  by  hungry  fisherfolk,  fishers 
of  men. 

So  back  to  his  briers.  And  back  to 
the  autumn  soil,  days  of  hard  drudging, 
days  of  hard  thinking.  The  chief  prob 
lem  for  the  nigh  future  being,  how  soon 
est  to  provide  the  raiment,  fill  the  scrip ; 
and  so  with  time  enough  to  find  out 


50  The  Reign  of  Law 

what,  on  its  first  appearance,  is  so  ter 
rible  a  discovery  to  the  young,  strain 
ing  against  restraint:  that  just  the  lack 
of  a  coarse  garment  or  two  —  of  a  little 
money  for  a  little  plain  food  —  of  a  few 
candles  and  a  few  coverlets  for  light  and 
warmth  with  a  book  or  two  thrown  in  — 
that  a  need  so  poor,  paltry  as  this,  may 
keep  mind  and  heart  back  for  years.  Ah, 
happy  ye !  with  whom  this  last  not  too 
long  —  or  for  always  ! 

Yet  happy  ye,  whether  the  waiting  be 
for  short  time  or  long  time,  if  only  it  bring 
on  meanwhile,  as  it  brought  on  with  hirr^ 
the  struggle !  One  sure  reward  ye  have? 
then,  as  he  had,  though  there  may  be  none 
other  —  just  the  struggle:  the  marshal 
ling  to  the  front  of  rightful  forces — will, 
effort,  endurance,  devotion ;  the  putting 
resolutely  back  of  forces  wrongful ;  the 
hardening  of  all  that  is  soft  within,  the 
softening  of  all  that  is  hard :  until  out  of 
the  hardening  and  the  softening  results  the 
better  tempering  of  the  soul's  metal,  and 
higher  development  of  those  two  quali- 


The  Reign  of  Law  51 

ties  which  are  best  in  man  and  best  in  his 
ideal  of  his  Maker  —  strength  and  kind 
ness,  power  and  mercy.  With  an  added 
reward  also,  if  the  struggle  lead  you  to 
perceive  (what  he  did  not  perceive),  as 
the  light  of  your  darkness,  the  sweet  of 
bitter,  that  real  struggling  is  itself  real  liv 
ing,  and  that  no  ennobling  thing  of  this 
earth  is  ever  to  be  had  by  man  on  any 
other  terms :  so  teaching  him,  none  too 
soon,  that  any  divine  end  is  to  be  reached 
but  through  divine  means,  that  a  great 
work  requires  a  great  preparation. 

Of  the  lad's  desperate  experience  hence^ 
forth  in  mere  outward  matters  the  recital 
may  be  suppressed:  the  struggle  of  the 
earth's  poor  has  grown  too  common  to 
make  fresh  reading.  He  toiled  direfully, 
economized  direfully,  to  get  to  his  college, 
but  in  this  showed  only  the  heroism  too 
ordinary  among  American  boys  to  be 
marvelled  at  more.  One  fact  may  be  set 
down,  as  limning  some  true  figure  of  him 
on  the  landscape  of  those  years  in  that 
peculiar  country. 


52  The  Reign  of  Law 

The  war  had  just  closed.  The  farmers, 
recollecting  the  fortunes  made  in  hemp 
before,  had  hurried  to  the  fields.  All  the 
more  as  the  long  interruption  of  agricul 
ture  in  the  South  had  resulted  in  scarcity 
of  cotton ;  so  that  the  earnest  cry  came  to 
Kentucky  for  hemp  at  once  to  take  many 
of  its  places.  But  meantime  the  slaves 
had  been  set  free :  where  before  ordered, 
they  must  now  be  hired.  A  difficult 
agreement  to  effect  at  all  times,  because 
will  and  word  and  bond  were  of  no  account. 
Most  difficult  when  the  breaking  of  hemp 
was  to  be  bargained  for;  since  the  laborer 
is  kept  all  day  in  the  winter  fields,  away 
from  the  fireside,  and  must  toil  solitary  at 
his  brake,  cut  off  from  the  talk  and  laugh 
ter  which  lighten  work  among  that  race. 
So  that  wages  rose  steadily,  and  the  cost 
of  hemp  with  them. 

The  lad  saw  in  this  demand  for  the 
lowest  work  at  the  highest  prices  his 
golden  opportunity  —  and  seized  it.  When 
the  hemp-breaking  season  opened  that 
winter,  he  made  his  appearance  on  the 


The  Reign  of  Law  53 

farm  of  a  rich  farmer  near  by,  taking  his 
place  with  the  negroes. 

There  is  little  art  in  breaking  hemp. 
He  soon  had  the  knack  of  that :  his  mus 
cles  were  toughened  already.  He  learned 
what  it  was  sometimes  to  eat  his  dinner 
in  the  fields,  warming  it,  maybe,  on  the 
coals  of  a  stump  set  on  fire  near  his 
brake ;  to  bale  his  hemp  at  nightfall  and 
follow  the  slide  or  wagon  to  the  barn ; 
there  to  wait  with  the  negroes  till  it  was 
weighed  on  the  steelyards ;  and  at  last, 
with  muscles  stiff  and  sore,  throat  husky 
with  dust,  to  stride  away  rapidly  over  the 
bitter  darkening  land  to  other  work  await 
ing  him  at  home. 

Had  there  been  call  to  do  this  before 
the  war,  it  might  not  have  been  done.  But 
now  men  young  and  old,  who  had  never 
known  what  work  was,  were  replacing 
their  former  slaves.  The  preexisting  order 
had  indeed  rolled  away  like  a  scroll ;  and 
there  was  the  strange  fresh  universal  stir 
of  humanity  over  the  land  like  the  stir  of 
nature  in  a  boundless  wood  under  a  new 


54  The  Reign  of  Law 

spring  firmament.  He  was  one  of  a  mul 
titude  of  new  toilers ;  but  the  first  in  his 
neighborhood,  and  alone  in  his  grim  choice 
of  work. 

So  dragged  that  winter  through.  When 
spring  returned,  he  did  better.  With  his 
father's  approval,  he  put  in  some  acres 
for  himself  —  sowed  it,  watched  it,  prayed 
for  it ;  in  summer  cut  it ;  with  hired  help 
stacked  it  in  autumn ;  broke  it  himself 
the  winter  following;  sold  it  the  next 
spring ;  and  so  found  in  his  pocket  the 
sorely  coveted  money. 

This  was  increased  that  summer  from 
the  sale  of  cord  wood,  through  driblets 
saved  by  his  father  and  mother ;  and  when 
autumn  once  more  advanced  with  her  days 
of  shadow  and  though tfulness  —  two  years 
having  now  passed  —  he  was  in  possession 
of  his  meagre  fortune,  wrung  out  of  earth, 
out  of  sweat  and  strength  and  devotion. 

Only  a  few  days  remained  now  before 
his  leaving  for  the  university  —  very 
solemn  tender  days  about  the  house  with 
his  father  and  mother,, 


The  Reign  of  Law  55 

And  now  for  the  lad's  own  sake,  as  for 
the  clearer  guidance  of  those  who  may 
care  to  understand  what  so  incredibly 
befell  him  afterward,  an  attempt  must  be 
made  to  reveal  somewhat  of  his  spiritual 
life  during  those  two  years.  It  was  this, 
not  hard  work,  that  writ  his  history. 

As  soon  as  he  had  made  up  his  mind 
to  study  for  the  ministry,  he  had  begun 
to  read  his  Bible  absorbingly,  sweeping 
through  that  primitive  'lawn  of  life  among 
the  Hebrews  and  that  second,  brilliant 
one  of  the  Christian  era.  He  had  few 
other  books,  none  important;  he  knew 
nothing  of  modern  theology  or  modern 
science.  Thus  he  was  brought  wholly 
under  the  influence  of  that  view  of  Man's 
place  in  Nature  which  was  held  by  the 
earliest  Biblical  writers,  has  imposed  itself 
upon  countless  millions  of  minds  since 
then,  and  will  continue  to  impose  itself  — 
how  much  longer? 

As  regarded,  then,  his  place  in  Nature, 
this  boy  became  a  contemporary  of  the 
Psalmist;  looked  out  upon  the  physical 


56  The  Reign  of  Law 

universe  with  the  eye  of  Job ;  placed 
himself  back  beside  that  simple,  , auda 
cious,  sublime  child  —  Man  but  awaken 
ing  from  his  cradle  of  faith  in  the 
morning  of  civilization.  The  meaning  of 
all  which  to  him  was  this:  that  the  most 
important  among  the  worlds  swung  in 
space  was  the  Earth,  on  account  of  a 
single  inhabitarii — Man.  Its  shape  had 
been  moulded,  its  surface  fitted  up,  as 
the  dwelling-place  of  Man.  Land,  ocean, 
mountain-range,  desert,  valley  —  these  were 
designed  alike  for  Man.  The  sun  —  it 
was  for  him ;  and  the  moon ;  and  the 
stars,  hung  about  the  earth  as  its  lights 

—  guides   to    the    mariner,    reminders    to 
the  landsman  of  the  Eye  that  never  slum 
bered.     The   clouds  — shade   and   shower 

—  they  were  mercifully  for  Man.     Noth 
ing  had  meaning,  possessed  value,  save  as 
it   derived  meaning  and  value  from  him. 
The    great    laws    of    Nature  —  they,    too, 
were  ordered   for  Man's  service,  like  the 
ox  and  the  ass ;    and  as  he  drove  his  ox 
and    his   ass  whither    he   would,    caused 


The  Reign  of  Law  57 

them  to  move  forward  or  to  stop  at  the 
word  of  command,  so  Man  had  only  to 
speak  properly  (in  prayer)  and  these  laws 
would  move  faster  or  less  fast,  stop  still, 
turn  to  the  right  or  the  left  side  of  the 
road  that  he  desired  to  travel.  Always  , 
Man,  Man,  Man,  nothing  but  Man!  To 
himself  measure  of  the  universe  as  to 
himself  a  little  boy  is  sole  reason  for  the 
food  and  furnishings  of  his  nursery. 

This  conception  of  Man's  place  in 
Nature  has  perhaps  furnished  a  very  large 
part  of  the  history  of  the  world.  Even 
at  this  close  of  the  nineteenth  century,  it 
is  still,  in  all  probability,  the  most  im 
portant  fact  in  the  faith  and  conduct  of 
the  race,  running  with  endless  applica 
tions  throughout  the  spheres  of  practical 
life  and  vibrating  away  to  the  extremi 
ties  of  the  imagination.  In  the  case  of 
this  poor,  devout,  high-minded  Kentucky 
boy,  at  work  on  a  farm  in  the  years 
1866  and  1867,  saving  his  earnings  and 
reading  his  Bible  as  the  twofold  prepara 
tion  for  his  entrance  into  the  Christian 


58  The  Reign  of  Law 

ministry,  this  belief  took  on  one  of  its 
purest  shapes  and  wrought  out  in  him 
some  of  its  loftiest  results. 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  he  lived  in 
a  temperate,  beautiful,  bountiful  country; 
that  his  work  was  done  mostly  in  the 
fields,  with  the  aspects  of  land  and  sky 
ever  before  him ;  that  he  was  much  alone ; 
that  his  thinking  was  nearly  always  of 
his  Bible  and  his  Bible  college.  Let  it 
be  remembered  that  he  had  an  eye  which 
was  not  merely  an  opening  and  closing 
but  a  seeing  eye — full  of  health  and  of 
enjoyment  of  the  pageantry  of  things ; 
and  that  behind  this  eye,  looking  through 
it  as  through  its  window,  stood  the  dim 
soul  of  the  lad,  itself  in  a  temple  of  per 
petual  worship :  these  are  some  of  the  con 
ditions  which  yielded  him  during  these 
two  years  the  intense,  exalted  realities  of 
his  inner  life. 

When  of  morning  he  stepped  out  of 
the  plain  farm-house  with  its  rotting  doors 
and  leaking  roof  and  started  off  joyously 
to  his  day's  work,  at  the  sight  of  the  great 


The  Reign  of  Law  59 

sun  just  rising  above  the  low  dew-wet 
hills,  his  soul  would  go  soaring  away  to 
heaven's  gate.  Sometimes  he  would  be 
abroad  late  at  night,  summoning  the  doc 
tor  for  his  father  or  returning  from  a  visit 
to  another  neighborhood.  In  every  farm 
house  that  he  passed  on  the  country  road  the 
people  were  asleep  —  over  all  the  shadowy 
land  they  were  asleep.  And  everywhere, 
guardian  in  the  darkness,  watched  the  moon, 
pouring  its  searching  beams  upon  every 
roof,  around  every  entrance,  on  kennel  and 
fold,  sty  and  barn — with  light  not  enough 
to  awaken  but  enough  to  protect :  how  he 
worshipped  toward  that  lamp  tended  by 
the  Sleepless  !  There  were  summer  noons 
when  he  would  be  lying  under  a  solitary 
tree  in  a  field  —  in  the  edge  of  its  shade, 
resting;  his  face  turned  toward  the  sky. 
This  would  be  one  over-bending  vault 
of  serenest  blue,  save  for  a  distant  flight 
of  snow-white  clouds,  making  him  think  of 
some  earthward-wandering  company  of 
angels.  He  would  lie  motionless,  scarce 
breathing,  in  that  peace  of  the  earth,  that 


60  The  Reign  of  Law 

smile  of  the  Father.  Or  if  this  same  vault 
remained  serene  too  long;  if  the  soil  of 
the  fields  became  dusty  to  his  boots  and 
his  young  grain  began  to  wither,  when 
at  last,  in  response  to  his  prayer,  the 
clouds  were  brought  directly  over  them 
and  emptied  down,  as  he  stepped  forth 
into  the  cooled,  dripping,  soaking  green, 
how  his  heart  blessed  the  Power  that 
reigned  above  and  did  all  things  well ! 

It  was  always  praise,  gratitude,  thanks 
giving,  whatever  happened.  If  he  prayed 
for  rain  for  his  crops  and  none  was  sent, 
then  he  thought  his  prayer  lacked  faith  or 
was  unwise,  he  knew  not  how;  if  too  much 
rain  fell,  so  that  his  grain  rotted,  this  again 
was  from  some  fault  of  his  or  for  his  good ; 
or  perhaps  it  was  the  evil  work  of  the 
prince  of  the  powers  of  the  air  — by  per 
mission  of  the  Omnipotent.  In  the  case 
of  one  crop  all  the  labor  of  nearly  a  year 
went  for  nothing:  he  explained  this  as  a 
reminder  that  he  must  be  chastened. 

Come  good,  come  ill,  then,  crops  or  no 
crops,  increase  or  decrease,  it  was  all  the 


The  Reign  of  Law  61 

same  to  him :  he  traced  the  cause  of  all 
plenty  as  of  all  disappointment  and  dis 
aster  reaching  him  through  the  laws  of 
nature  to  some  benevolent  purpose  of 
the  Ruler.  And  ever  before  his  eyes 
also  he  kept  that  spotless  Figure  which 
once  walked  among  men  on  earth  —  that 
Saviour  of  the  world  whose  service  he  was 
soon  to  enter,  whose  words  of  everlasting 
life  he  was  to  preach:  his  father's  farm 
became  as  the  vineyard  of  the  parables  in 
the  Gospels,  he  a  laborer  in  it. 

Thus  this  lad  was  nearer  the  first  cen 
tury  and  yet  earlier  ages  than  the  nine 
teenth.  He  knew  more  of  prophets  and 
apostles  than  modern  doctors  of  divinity. 
When  the  long-looked-for  day  arrived 
for  him  to  throw  his  arms  around  his 
father  and  mother  and  bid  them  good-by, 
he  should  have  mounted  a  camel,  like  a 
youth  of  the  Holy  Land  of  old,  and  taken 
his  solemn,  tender  way  across  the  country 
toward  Jerusalem. 


62  The  Reign  of  Law 


ONE  crisp,  autumn  morning,  then,  of 
that  year  1867,  a  big,  raw-boned,  bash 
ful  lad,  having  passed  at  the  turnstile 
into  the  twenty-acre  campus,  stood  rever 
ently  still  before  the  majestical  front  of 
Morrison  College.  Browned  by  heat  and 
wind,  rain  and  sun ;  straight  of  spine,  fine 
of  nerve,  tough  of  muscle.  In  one  hand 
he  carried  an  enormous,  faded  valise, 
made  of  Brussels  carpet  copiously  sprin 
kled  with  small,  pink  roses ;  in  the  other 
held  like  a  horizontal  javelin,  a  family  um 
brella.  A  broken  rib  escaped  his  fingers, 

It  was  no  time  and  place  for  observa 
tion  or  emotion.  The  turnstile  behind 
him  was  kept  in  a  whirl  by  students 
pushing  through  and  hurrying  toward 
the  college  a  few  hundred  yards  distant; 
others,  who  had  just  left  it,  came  tramp 
ing  toward  him  and  passing  out.  In  a 
retired  part  of  the  campus,  he  could  see 
several  pacing  slowly  to  and  fro  in  the 


The  Reign  of  Law  63 

grass,  holding  text-books  before  their 
faces.  Some  were  grouped  at  the  bases  of 
the  big  Doric  columns,  at  work  together. 
From  behind  the  college  on  the  right, 
two  or  three  appeared  running  and  dis 
appeared  through  a  basement  entrance0 
Out  of  the  grass  somewhere  came  the 
sound  of  a  whistle  as  clear  and  happy  as 
of  a  quail  in  the  wheat ;  from  another  di 
rection,  the  shouts  and  wrangling  of  a  play 
ground.  Once,  barely  audible,  through  the 
air  surged  and  died  away  the  last  bars  of  a 
glorious  hymn,  sung  by  a  chorus  of  fresh 
male  voices.  The  whole  scene  was  one  of 
bustle,  work,  sport,  worship. 

A  few  moments  the  lad  remained  where 
he  had  halted,  drinking  through  every 
thirsting  pore ;  but  most  of  all  with  his 
eyes  satisfied  by  the  sight  of  that  venera 
ble  building  which,  morning  and  night, 
for  over  two  years  had  shaped  itself  to  his 
imagination  —  that  seat  of  the  university 
—  that  entrance  into  his  future. 

Three  students  came  strolling  along 
the  path  toward  him  on  their  way  down 


64  The  Reign  of  Law 

town.  One  was  slapping  his  book  against 
his  thigh  ;  one  was  blowing  a  ditty  through 
his  nose,  like  music  on  a  comb;  one,  in 
the  middle,  had  his  arms  thrown  over  the 
shoulders  of  the  others,  and  was  at  in 
tervals  using  them  as  crutches.  As  they 
were  about  to  pass  the  lad,  who  had 
stepped  a  few  feet  to  one  side  of  the 
path,  they  wheeled  and  laughed  at  him. 

"  Hello,  preachy !  "  cried  one.  His  face 
was  round,  red,  and  soft,  like  the  full 
moon ;  the  disk  was  now  broken  up  by 
smiling  creases. 

"  Can  you  tell  me,"  inquired  the  lad, 
coloring  and  wondering  how  it  was  al 
ready  known  that  he  was  to  be  a 
preacher,  "  Can  you  tell  me  just  the  way 
to  the  Bible  College  ?  " 

The  one  of  the  three  on  the  right 
turned  to  the  middle  man  and  repeated 
the  question  gravely:  — 

"  Can  you  tell  me  just  the  way  to  the 
Bible  College?" 

The  middle  man  turned  and  repeated 
it  gravely  to  the  one  on  the  left :  — 


The  Reign  of  Law  65 

"  Can  you  tell  me  just  the  way  to  the 
Bible  College  ?  " 

The  one  on  the  left  seized  a  passing 
student :  — 

"  Can  you  tell  us  all  just  the  way  to  the 
Bible  College  ? " 

"  Ministers  of  grace !  "  he  said,  "  without 
the  angels ! "  Then  turning  to  the  lad,  he 
continued :  "  You  see  this  path  ?  Take 
it !  Those  steps  ?  Go  straight  up  those 
steps.  Those  doors?  Enter!  Then,  if 
you  don't  see  the  Bible  College,  maybe 
you'll  see  the  janitor  —  if  he  is  there. 
But  don't  you  fear!  You  may  get  lost, 
but  you'll  never  get  away !  " 

The  lad  knew  he  was  being  guyed, 
but  he  didn't  mind:  what  hurt  him  was 
that  his  Bible  College  should  be  treated 
with  such  levity. 

"Thank  you,"  he  said  pleasantly  but 
proudly. 

"  Have  you  matriculated  ? "  one  of  the 
three  called  after  him  as  he  started  for- 
ward. 

David  had  never  heard  that  word ;  but 


66  The  Reign  of  Law 

he  entertained  such  a  respect  for  knowl 
edge  that  he  hated  to  appear  unneces 
sarily  ignorant. 

"I  don't  think — I  have,"  he  observed 
vaguely. 

The  small  eyes  of  the  full  moon  disap 
peared  altogether  this  time. 

"  Well,  you've  got  to  matriculate,  you 
know,"  he  said.  "You'd  better  do  that 
sometime.  But  don't  speak  of  it  to  your 
professors,  or  to  anybody  connected  with 
the  college.  It  must  be  kept  secret." 

"  Will  I  be  too  late  for  the  first  recita 
tions  ? " 

The  eager  question  was  on  the  lad's  lips 
but  never  uttered.  The  trio  had  wheeled 
carelessly  away. 

There  passed  them,  coming  toward 
David,  a  tall,  gaunt,  rough-whiskered  man, 
wearing  a  paper  collar  without  a  cravat, 
and  a  shiny,  long-tailed,  black  cloth  coat 
He  held  a  Bible  opened  at  Genesis. 

"  Good  morning,  brother,"  he  said 
frankly,  speaking  in  the  simple  kindness 
which  comes  from  being  a  husband  and 


The  Reign  of  Law  67 

father.  "  You  are  going  to  enter  the  Bible 
College,  I  see." 

"Yes,  sir,"  replied  the  lad.  "Are  you 
one  of  the  professors  ?  " 

The  middle-aged  man  laughed  painfully. 

"  I  am  one  of  the  students." 

David  felt  that  he  had  inflicted  a  wound. 
"  How  many  students  are  here  ?  "  he  asked 
quickly. 

"  About  a  thousand." 

The  two  walked  side  by  side  toward  the 
college. 

"  Have  you  matriculated  ?  "  inquired  the 
lad's  companion.  There  was  that  awful 
word  again ! 

"  I  don't  know  how  to  matriculate.  How 
do  you  matriculate  ?  What  is  matriculat- 
ing?" 

"  Pit  go  with  you.  /'//  show  you,"  said 
the  simple  fatherly  guide. 

"  Thank  you,  if  you  will  "  breathed  the 
lad,  gratefully. 

After  a  brief  silence  his  companion 
spoke  again. 

"  I'm   late    in    life    in   entering  college. 


68  The  Reign  of  Law 

I've  got  a  son  half  as  big  as  you  and  a 
baby ;  and  my  wife's  here.  But,  you  see, 
I've  had  a  hard  time.  I've  preached  for 
years.  But  I  wasn't  satisfied.  I  wanted 
to  understand  the  Bible  better.  And 
this  is  the  place  to  do  that."  Now  that 
he  had  explained  himself,  he  looked 
relieved. 

"  Well,"  said  David,  fervently,  entering 
at  once  into  a  brotherhood  with  this  kindly 
soul,  "  that's  what  I've  come  for,  too.  I 
want  to  understand  the  Bible  better  — 
and  if  I  am  ever  worthy  — •  I  want  to 
preach  it.  And  you  have  baptized  people 
already  ? " 

"  Hundreds  of  them.  Here  we  are," 
said  his  companion,  as  they  passed  under 
a  low  doorway,  on  one  side  of  the  pillared 
steps. 

"  Here  I  am  at  last,"  repeated  the  lad  to 
himself  with  solemn  joy.  "  And  now  God 
be  with  me  !  " 

By  the  end  of  that  week  he  had  the 
run  of  things;  had  met  his  professors, 
one  of  whom  had  preached  that  sermon 


The  Reign  of  Law  69 

two  summers  before,  and  now,  on  being 
told  who  the  lad  was,  welcomed  him  as 
a  sheaf  out  of  that  sowing ;  had  been 
assigned  to  his  classes ;  had  gone  down 
town  to  the  little  packed  and  crowded 
book-store  and  bought  the  needful  stu 
dent's  supplies  —  so  making  the  first 
draught  on  his  money ;  been  assigned 
to  a  poor  room  in  the  austere  dormitory 
behind  the  college ;  made  his  first  fail 
ures  in  recitations,  standing  before  his 
professor  with  no  more  articulate  voice 
and  no  more  courage  than  a  sheep ;  and 
had  awakened  to  a  new  sense  —  the 
brotherhood  of  young  souls  about  him, 
the  men  of  his  college. 

A  revelation  they  were!  Nearly  all  poor 
like  himself;  nearly  all  having  worked  their 
way  to  the  university:  some  from  farms, 
some  by  teaching  distant  country  or 
mountain  schools;  some  by  the  peddling 
of  books  —  out  of  unknown  byways,  from 
the  hedges  and  ditches  of  life,  they  had 
assembled:  Calvary's  regulars. 

One  scene  in  his  new  life  struck  upon 


70  The  Reign  of  Law 

the  lad's  imagination  like  a  vision  out  of 
the  New  Testament,  —  his  first  supper 
in  the  bare  dining  room  of  that  dormi 
tory  :  the  single  long,  rough  table ;  the 
coarse,  frugal  food ;  the  shadows  of  the 
evening  hour ;  at  every  chair  a  form  rev 
erently  standing;  the  saying  of  the  brief 
grace  —  ah,  that  first  supper  with  the  dis 
ciples  ! 

Among  the  things  he  had  to  describe 
in  his  letter  to  his  father  and  mother,  this 
scene  came  last;  and  his  final  words  to 
them  were  a  blessing  that  they  had  made 
him  one  of  this  company  of  young  men. 

VI 

THE  lad  could  not  study  eternally. 
The  change  from  a  toiling  body  and  idle 
mind  to  an  idle  body  and  toiling  mind 
requires  time  to  make  the  latter  condition 
unirksome.  Happily  there  was  small 
need  to  delve  at  learning.  His  brain  was 
like  that  of  a  healthy  wild  animal  freshly 
captured  from  nature.  And  as  such  an 


The  Reign  of  Law  71 

animal  learns  to  snap  at  flung  bits  of  food, 
springing  to  meet  them  and  sinking  back 
on  his  haunches  keen-eyed  for  more ;  so 
mentally  he  caught  at  the  lessons  pre 
pared  for  him  by  his  professors:  every 
faculty  asked  only  to  be  fed  — and  re 
mained  hungry  after  the  feeding. 

Of  afternoons,  therefore,  when  recita 
tions  were  over  and  his  muscles  ached 
for  exercise,  he  donned  his  old  farm  hat 
and  went,  stepping  in  his  high,  awkward, 
investigating  way  around  the  town  —  un 
aware  of  himself,  unaware  of  the  light- 
minded  who  often  turned  to  smile  at  that 
great  gawk  in  grotesque  garments,  with 
his  face  full  of  beatitudes  and  his  pockets 
full  of  apples.  For  apples  were  beginning 
to  come  in  from  the  frosty  orchards ;  and 
the  fruit  dealers  along  the  streets  piled 
them  into  pyramids  of  temptation.  It 
seemed  a  hardship  to  him  to  have  to  spend 
priceless  money  for  a  thing  like  apples, 
which  had  always  been  as  cheap  and  plen 
tiful  as  spring  water.  But  those  evening 
suppers  in  the  dormitory  with  the  disci- 


72  The  Reign  of  Law 

pies !  Even  when  he  was  filled  (which 
was  not  often)  he  was  never  comforted ; 
and  one  day  happening  upon  one  of  those 
pomological  pyramids,  he  paused,  yearned, 
and  bought  the  apex.  It  was  harder  not 
to  buy  than  to  buy.  After  that  he  fell  into 
this  fruitful  vice  almost  diurnally ;  and  with 
mortifying  worldly-mindedness  he  would 
sometimes  find  his  thoughts  straying  apple- 
wards  while  his  professors  were  personally 
conducting  him  through  Canaan  or  leading 
him  dry-shod  across  the  Red  Sea.  The 
little  dealer  soon  learned  to  anticipate  his 
approach ;  and  as  he  drew  up  would  have 
the  requisite  number  ready  and  slide  them 
into  his  pockets  without  a  word  —  and 
without  the  chance  of  inspection.  A 
man's  candy  famine  attacked  him  also. 
He  usually  bought  some  intractable,  re 
sisting  medium :  it  left  him  rather  tired  of 
pleasure. 

So  during  those  crude  days  he  went 
strolling  solemnly  about  the  town,  eating, 
exploring,  filling  with  sweetmeats  and 
filled  with  wonder.  It  was  the  first  city 


The  Reign  of  Law  73 

he  had  ever  seen,  the  chief  interior  city  of 
the  state.  From  childhood  he  had  longed 
to  visit  it.  The  thronged  streets,  the 
curious  stores,  the  splendid  reside:: ces,  the 
flashing  equipages  —  what  a  new  world  it 
was  to  him !  But  the  first  place  he  in 
quired  his  way  to  was  the  factory  where 
he  had  sold  his  hemp.  Awhile  he  watched 
the  men  at  work,  wondering  whether  they 
might  not  then  be  handling  some  that  he 
had  broken. 

At  an  early  date  also  he  went  to  look 
up  his  dear  old  neighborhood  schoolfellows 
who  two  years  before  had  left  him,  to  enter 
another  college  of  the  University.  By 
inquiry  he  found  out  where  they  lived  — • 
in  a  big,  handsome  boarding-house  on  a 
fashionable  street.  He  thought  he  had 

o 

never  even  dreamed  of  anything  so  fine  as 
was  this  house  —  nor  had  he.  As  he  sat 
in  the  rich  parlors,  waiting  to  learn  whether 
his  friends  were  at  home,  he  glanced 
uneasily  at  his  shoes  to  see  whether  they 
might  not  be  soiling  the  carpet ;  and  he 
vigorously  dusted  himself  with  his  breath 


74  The  Reign  of  Law 

and  hands  —  thus  depositing  on  the  furni- 
ture  whatever  dust  there  was  to  transfer. 

Having  been  invited  to  come  up  to  his 
friends'  room,  he  mounted  and  found  one 
of  them  waiting  at  the  head  of  the  stairs 
in  his  shirt  sleeves,  smoking.  His  greet 
ing  was  hearty  in  its  way  yet  betokened 
some  surprise,  a  little  uneasiness,  conde 
scension.  David  followed  his  host  into  a 
magnificent  room  with  enormous  windows, 
now  raised  and  opening  upon  a  veranda. 
Below  was  a  garden  full  of  old  vines  black 
with  grapes  and  pear  trees  bent  down  with 
pears  and  beds  bright  with  cool  autumn 
flowers.  (The  lad  made  a  note  of  how 
much  money  he  would  save  on  apples  if 
he  could  only  live  in  reach  of  those  pear 
trees.)  There  was  a  big  rumpled  bed  in 
the  room ;  and  stretched  across  this  bed 
on  his  stomach  lay  a  student  studying  and 
waving  his  heels  slowly  in  the  air.  A 
table  stood  in  the  middle  of  the  room  : 
the  books  and  papers  had  been  scraped 
off  to  the  floor ;  four  students  were  seated 
at  it  playing  cards  and  smoking.  Among 


The  Reign  of  Law  75 

them  his  other  friend,  who  rose  and  gave 
him  a  hearty  grip  and  resuming  his  seat 
asked  what  was  trump?.  A  voice  he  had 
heard  before  called  out  to  him  from  the 
table :  — 

"  Hello,  preachy !  Did  you  find  your 
way  to  the  Bible  College  ?  " 

Whereupon  the  student  on  the  bed 
rolled  heavily  over,  sat  up  dejectedly,  and 
ogled  him  with  red  eyes  and  a  sagging 
jaw. 

"  Have  you  matriculated  ?  "  he  asked. 

David  did  not  think  of  the  cards,  and 
he  liked  the  greeting  of  the  two  strangers 
who  guyed  him  better  than  the  welcome 
of  his  old  friends.  That  hurt:  he  had 
never  supposed  there  was  anything  just 
like  it  in  the  nature  of  man.  But  during 
the  years  since  he  had  seen  them,  old 
times  were  gone,  old  manners  changed. 
And  was  it  not  in  the  hemp  fields  of  the 
father  of  one  of  them  that  he  had  mean 
time  worked  with  the  negroes  ?  And  is 
there  any  other  country  in  the  world 
where  the  clean  laborer  is  so  theoretically 


76  The  Reign  of  Law 

honored  and  so  practically  despised  as  by 
the  American  snob  of  each  sex  ? 

One  afternoon  he  went  over  to  the  court 
house  and  got  the  county  clerk  to  show 
him  the  entry  where  his  great-grandfather 
had  had  the  deed  to  his  church  recorded. 
There  it  all  was!  —  all  written  down  to 
hold  good  while  the  world  lasted :  that 
perpetual  grant  of  part  and  parcel  of  his 
land,  for  the  use  of  a  free  school  and  a 
free  church.  The  lad  went  reverently  over 
the  plain,  rough  speech  of  the  mighty  old 
pioneer,  as  he  spoke  out  his  purpose. 

During  those  early  days  also  he  sought 
out  the  different  churches,  scrutinizing 
respectfully  their  exteriors.  How  many 
they  were,  and  how  grand  nearly  all! 
Beyond  anything  he  had  imagined.  He 
reasoned  that  if  the  buildings  were  so  fine, 
how  fine  must  be  the  singing  and  the  ser 
mons  !  The  unconscious  assumption,  the 
false  logic  here,  was  creditable  to  his  heart 
at  least  —  to  that  green  trust  of  the  young 
in  things  as  they  should  be  which  becomes 
in  time  the  best  seasoned  staff  of  age.  He 


The  Reign  of  Law  77 

hunted  out  especially  the  Catholic  Church. 
His  great-grandfather  had  founded  his 
as  free  for  Catholics  as  Protestants,  but 
he  recalled  the  fact  that  no  priest  had 
ever  preached  there.  He  felt  very  curious 
to  see  a  priest.  A  synagogue  in  the  town 
he  could  not  find.  He  was  sorry.  He 
had  a  great  desire  to  lay  eyes  on  a  syn 
agogue  —  temple  of  that  ancient  faith 
which  had  flowed  on  its  deep  way  across 
the  centuries  without  a  ripple  of  disturb 
ance  from  the  Christ.  He  had  made  up 
his  rnind  that  when  he  began  to  preach 
he  would  often  preach  especially  to  the 
Jews  :  the  time  perhaps  had  come  when  the 
Father,  their  Father,  would  reveal  his  Son 
to  them  also.  Thus  he  promptly  fixed  in 
mind  the  sites  of  all  the  churches,  because 
he  intended  in  time  to  go  to  them  all. 

Meantime  he  attended  his  own,  the  size 
and  elegance  of  which  were  a  marvel ;  and 
in  it  especially  the  red  velvet  pulpit  and 
the  vast  chandelier  (he  had  never  seen 
a  chandelier  before),  blazing  with  stars 
(he  had  never  seen  illuminating  gas).  It 


78  The  Reign  of  Law 

was  under  this  chandelier  that  he  him 
self  soon  found  a  seat.  All  the  Bible 
students  sat  there  who  could  get  there, 
that  being  the  choir  of  male  voices ;  and 
before  a  month  passed  he  had  been  taken 
into  this  choir :  for  a  storm-like  bass  rolled 
out  of  him  as  easily  as  thunder  out  of  a 
June  cloud.  Thus  uneventful  flowed  the 
tenor  of  his  student  life  during  those  sev 
eral  initiatory  weeks :  then  something  oc 
curred  that  began  to  make  grave  history 
for  him. 

The  pastor  announced  at  service  one 
morning  that  he  would  that  day  begin  a 
series  of  sermons  on  errors  in  the  faith 
and  practice  of  the  different  Protestant 
sects;  though  he  would  also  consider  in 
time  the  cases  of  the  Catholics  and  Jews: 
it  would  scarcely  be  necessary  to  speak  of 
the  Mohammedans  and  such  others.  He 
was  driven  to  do  this,  he  declared,  and 
was  anxious  to  do  it,  as  part  of  the  work 
of  his  brethren  all  over  the  country ;  which 
was  the  restoration  of  Apostolic  Christi 
anity  to  the  world.  He  asked  the  espe- 


The  Reign  of  Law  79 

cial  attention  of  the  Bible  students  of  tht 
University  to  these  sermons:  the  first  oi 
which  he  then  proceeded  to  preach. 

That  night  the  lad  was  absent  from  his 
place :  he  was  seated  in  the  church  which 
had  been  riddled  with  logic  in  the  morn 
ing.  Just  why  it  would  be  hard  to  say, 
Perhaps  his  motive  resembled  that  which 
prompts  us  to  visit  a  battle-field  and  count 
the  slain.  Only,  not  a  soul  of  those  people 
seemed  even  to  have  been  wounded.  They 
sang,  prayed,  preached,  demeaned  them 
selves  generally  as  those  who  believed  that 
they  were  the  express  chosen  of  the  Lord; 
and  greatly  enjoyed  the  notorious  fact. 

The  series  of  sermons  went  on :  every 
night  the  lad  was  missing  from  his  place 
—  gone  to  see  for  himself  and  to  learn 
more  about  those  worldly  churches  which 
had  departed  from  the  faith  once  delivered 
to  the  saints,  and  if  saved  at  all,  then  by 
the  mercy  of  God  and  much  of  it. 

In  the  history  of  any  human  soul  it  is 
impossible  to  grasp  the  first  event  that 
starts  up  a  revolution.  But  perhaps  the 


8o  The  Reign  of  Law 

troubles  of  the  lad  began  here.  His  ab 
sences  from  Sunday  night  service  of  course 
attracted  notice  under  the  chandelier. 
His  bass  was  missed.  Another  student 
was  glad  to  take  his  place.  His  room 
mate  and  the  several  other  dormitory  stu 
dents  who  had  become  his  acquaintances, 
discussed  with  him  the  impropriety  of  these 
absences  :  they  agreed  that  he  would  bet 
ter  stick  to  his  own  church.  He  gave 
reasons  why  he  should  follow  up  the  pas 
tor's  demonstrations  with  actual  visits  to 
the  others :  he  contended  that  the  pastor 
established  the  fact  of  the  errors ;  but  that 
the  best  way  to  understand  any  error  was 
to  study  the  erring.  This  was  all  new 
to  him,  however.  He  had  not  supposed 
that  in  educating  himself  to  preach  the 
simple  Gospel,  to  the  end  that  the  world 
might  believe,  in  Christ,  he  must  also 
preach  against  those  who  believed  in 
Christ  already.  Besides,  no  one  seemed 
to  be  convinced  by  the  pastor  but  those 
who  agreed  with  him  in  advance :  the 
other  churches  flourished  quite  the  same. 


The  Reign  of  Law  8x 

He  cited  a  sermon  he  had  heard  in  one, 
which,  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  present, 
had  riddled  his  own  church,  every  word  of 
the  proof  being  based  on  Scripture:  so 
there  you  were ! 

A  little  cloud  came  that  instant  be 
tween  David  and  the  students  to  whom  he 
expressed  these  views.  Some  rejoined 
hotly  at  once;  some  maintained  the  cold 
silence  which  intends  to  speak  in  its  own 
time.  The  next  thing  the  lad  knew  was 
that  a  professor  requested  him  to  remain 
after  class  one  day;  and  speaking  with 
grave  kindness,  advised  him  to  go  regu 
larly  to  his  own  church  thereafter.  The 
lad  entered  ardently  into  the  reasons  why 
he  had  gone  to  the  others.  The  professor 
heard  him  through  and  without  comment 
repeated  his  grave,  kind  advice. 

Thereafter  the  lad  was  regularly  in  his 
own  seat  there  —  but  with  a  certain  mys 
terious,  beautiful  feeling  gone.  He  could 
not  have  said  what  this  feeling  was,  did 
not  himself  know.  Only,  a  slight  film 
seemed  to  pass  before  his  eyes  when  he 


82  The  Reign  of  Law 

looked   at  his  professor,  so   that   he    saw 
him  less  clearly  and  as  more  remote. 

One  morning  there  was  a  sermon  on  the 
Catholics.  David  went  dutifully  to  his 
professor.  He  said  he  had  never  been  to 
a  Catholic  Church  and  would  like  to  go. 
His  professor  assented  cordially,  evincing 
his  pleasure  in  the  lad's  frankness.  But 
the  next  Sunday  morning  he  was  in  the 
Catholic  Church  again,  thus  for  the  first 
time  missing  the  communion  in  his  own. 
Of  all  the  congregations  of  Christian  be 
lievers  that  the  lad  had  now  visited,  the 
Catholic  impressed  him  as  being  the  most 
solemn,  reverent,  and  best  mannered.  In 
his  own  church  the  place  did  not  seem  to 
become  the  house  of  God  till  services  be 
gan  ;  and  one  morning  in  particular,  two 
old  farmers  in  the  pew  behind  him  talked  in 
smothered  tones  of  stock  and  crops,  till  it 
fairly  made  him  homesick.  The  sermon  of 
the  priest,  too,  filled  him  with  amazement. 
It  weighed  the  claims  of  various  Protestant 
sects  to  be  reckoned  as  parts  of  the  one 
true  historic  church  of  God.  In  passing, 


The  Reign  of  Law  83 

he  barely  referred  to  the  most  modern  of 
these  self-constituted  Protestant  bodies  - 
David's    own    church  —  and    dismissed    it 
with  one  blast  of  scorn,  which  seemed  to 
strike    the    lad's    face    like    a   hot   wind: 
it  left  it  burning,     But  to  the  Episcopal 
Church  the  priest  dispensed  the  most  vitri 
olic    criticism.     And    that    night,  carried 
away  by  the  old  impulse,  which  had  grown 
now    almost  into  a  habit,  David  went  to 
the  Episcopal  Church:    went  to  number 
the  slain.     The  Bishop  of  the  diocese,  as 
it  happened,  was  preaching  that  night  — 
preaching   on  the  union  of  Christian  be 
lievers.     He  showed  how  ready  the  Epis 
copal  Church  was  for  such  a  union  if  the 
rest   would    only   consent:    but  no   other 
church,  he  averred,  must  expect  the  Epis 
copal  Church  ever  to  surrender  one  article 
of    its   creed,  namely:    that    it  alone  was 
descended    not    by    historical    continuity 
simply,  but  by  Divine  succession  from  the 
Apostles    themselves.     The    lad    walked 
slowly    back  to  the  dormitory  that  night 
with  knit  brows  and  a  heavy  heart. 


84  The  Reign  of  Law 

A  great  change  was  coming  over  him. 
His  old  religious  peace  had  been  unex 
pectedly  disturbed.  He  found  himself 
in  the  thick  of  the  wars  of  dogmatic 
theology.  At  that  time  and  in  that  part 
of  the  United  States  these  were  impas 
sioned  and  rancorous  to  a  degree  which 
even  now,  less  than  half  a  century  later, 
fcan  scarce  be  understood;  so  rapidly  has 
developed  meantime  that  modern  spirit 
which  is  for  us  the  tolerant  transition  to 
a  yet  broader  future.  Had  Kentucky 
been  peopled  by  her  same  people  several 
generations  earlier,  the  land  would  have 
run  red  with  the  blood  of  religious  perse 
cutions,  as  never  were  England  and  Scot 
land  at  their  worst.  So  that  this  lad, 
brought  in  from  his  solemn,  cloistered 
fields  and  introduced  to  wrangling,  sarcas 
tic,  envious  creeds,  had  already  begun  to 
feel  doubtful  and  distressed,  not  knowing 
what  to  believe  nor  whom  to  follow.  He  had 
commenced  by  being  so  plastic  a  medium 
for  faith,  that  he  had  tried  to  believe  them 
all.  Now  he  was  in  the  intermediate  state 


The  Reign  of  Law  85 

of  trying  to  ascertain  which.  From  that 
state  there  are  two  and  two  only  final  ones 
to  emerge :  "  I  shall  among  them  believe 
this  one  only  ;  "  or,  "  I  shall  among  them 
believe  — none."  The  constant  discussion 
of  some  dogma  and  disproof  of  some  dogma 
inevitably  begets  in  a  certain  order  of 
mind  the  temper  to  discuss  and  distrust 
all  dogma. 

Not  over  their  theologies  alone  were 
the  churches  wrangling  before  the  lad's 
^  distracted  thoughts.  If  the  theologies 
were  rending  religion,  politics  was  rend- 
-  ing  the  theologies.  The  war  just  ended 
khad  not  brought,  as  the  summer  sermon 
of  the  Bible  College  professor  had  stated, 
breadth  of  mind  for  narrowness,  calm  for 
passion.  Not  while  men  are  fighting  their 
wars  of  conscience  do  they  hate  most, 
but  after  they  have  fought ;  and  Southern 
and  Union  now  hated  to  the  bottom  and 
nowhere  else  as  at  their  prayers.  David 
found  a  Presbyterian  Church  on  one  street 
called  "  Southern  "  and  one  a  few  blocks 
away  called  "  Northern  " :  how  those  breth- 


86  The  Reign  of  Law 

ren  dwelt  together.  The  Methodists  were 
similarly  divided.  Of  Baptists,  the  lad  as 
certained  there  had  been  so  many  kinds 
and  parts  of  kinds  since  the  settlement  of 
Kentucky,  that  apparently  any  large-sized 
family  anywhere  could  reasonably  have 
constituted  itself  a  church,  if  the  parents 
and  children  had  only  been  fortunate 
enough  to  agree. 

Where  politics  did  not  cleave,  other  is 
sues  did.  The  Episcopal  Church  was  cleft 
into  a  reform  movement  (and  one  unre- 
formable).  In  his  own  denomination  inter 
nal  discord  raged  over  such  questions  as 
diabolic  pleasures  and  Apostolic  music. 
He  saw  young  people  haled  before  the 
pulpit  as  before  a  tribunal  of  exact  statutes 
and  expelled  for  moving  their  feet  in  cer 
tain  ways.  If  in  dancing  they  whirled 
like  a  top  instead  of  being  shot  straight 
back  and  forth  like  a  bobbin  in  a  weaver's 
shuttle,  their  moral  conduct  was  aggra 
vated.  A  church  organ  was  ridiculed  as  a 
sort  of  musical  Behemoth  —  as  a  dark 
chamber  of  howling,  roaring  Belial. 


The  Reign  of  Law  87 

These  controversies  overflowed  from  the 
congregation  to  the  Bible  College.  The 
lad  in  his  room  at  the  dormitory  one  Sun 
day  afternoon  heard  a  debate  on  whether 
a  tuning  fork  is  a  violation  of  the  word  of 
God.  The  debaters  turned  to  him  excited 
and  angry :  — 

"  What  do  you  think  ?  "  they  asked. 

"  I  don't  think  it  is  worth  talking  about," 
he  replied  quietly. 

They  soon  became  reconciled  to  each 
other;  they  never  forgave  him. 

Meantime  as  for  his  Biblical  studies, 
they  enlarged  enormously  his  knowledge 
of  the  Bible ;  but  they  added  enormously 
to  the  questions  that  may  be  asked  about 
the  Bible — questions  he  had  never  thought 
of  before.  And  in  adding  to  the  ques 
tions  that  may  be  asked,  they  multiplied 
those  that  cannot  be  answered.  The  lad 
began  to  ask  these  questions,  began  to 
get  no  answers.  The  ground  of  his  in 
terest  in  the  great  Book  shifted.  Out 
on  the  farm  alone  with  it  for  two  years, 
reading  it  never  with  a  critical  but  always 


88  The  Reign  of  Law 

with  a  worshipping  mind,  it  had  been  to 
him  simply  the  summons  to  a  great  and 
good  life,  earthly  and  immortal.  As  he 
sat  in  the  lecture  rooms,  studying  it  book 
by  book,  paragraph  by  paragraph,  writing 
chalk  notes  about  it  on  the  blackboard, 
hearing  the  students  recite  it  as  they  re- 
cited  arithmetic  or  rhetoric,  a  little  home 
sickness  overcame  him  for  the  hours  when 
he  had  read  it  at  the  end  of  a  furrow  in 
the  fields,  or  by  his  candle  the  last  thing 
at  night  before  he  kneeled  to  say  his 
prayers,  or  of  Sunday  afternoons  off  by 
himself  in  the  sacred  leafy  woods.  The 
mysterious  untouched  Christ-feeling  was 
in  him  so  strong,  that  he  shrank  from 
these  critical  analyses  as  he  would  from 
dissecting  the  body  of  the  crucified  Re 
deemer. 

A  significant  occurrence  took  place  one 
afternoon  some  seven  months  after  he  had 
entered  the  University. 

On  that  day,  recitations  over,  the  lad 
left  the  college  alone  and  with  a  most 
thoughtful  air  crossed  the  campus  and 


The  Reign  of  Law  89 

took  his  course  into  the  city.  Reaching 
a  great  central  street,  he  turned  to  the  left 
and  proceeded  until  he  stood  opposite  a 
large  brick  church.  Passing  along  the 
outside  of  this,  he  descended  a  few  steps, 
traversed  an  alley,  knocked  timidly  at  a 
door,  and  by  a  voice  within  was  bidden 
to  enter.  He  did  so,  and  stood  in  his 
pastor's  study.  He  had  told  his  pastor 
that  he  would  like  to  have  a  little  talk 
with  him,  and  the  pastor  was  there  to 
have  the  little  talk. 

During  those  seven  months  the  lad  had 
been  attracting  notice  more  and  more. 
The  Bible  students  had  cast  up  his  reck 
oning  unfavorably:  he  was  not  of  their 
kind  —  they  moved  through  their  studies 
as  one  flock  of  sheep  through  a  valley, 
drinking  the  same  water,  nipping  the  same 
grass,  and  finding  it  what  they  wanted. 
His  professors  had  singled  him  out  as  a 
case  needing  peculiar  guidance.  Not  in 
his  decorum  as  a  student:  he  was  the  very 
soul  of  discipline.  Not  in  slackness  of 
study:  his  mind  consumed  knowledge  as 


^o  The  Reign  of  Law 

a  flame  tinder.  Not  in  any  irregularities 
of  private  life :  his  morals  were  as  snow 
for  whiteness.  Yet  none  other  caused  such 
concern. 

All  this  the  pastor  knew ;  he  had  him 
self  long  had  his  eye  on  this  lad.  During 
his  sermons,  among  the  rows  of  heads  and 
brows  and  eyes  upturned  to  him,  oftenest 
he  felt  himself  looking  at  that  big  shock- 
head,  at  those  grave  brows,  into  those 
eager,  troubled  eyes.  His  persistent  dem 
onstrations  that  he  and  his  brethren  alone 
were  right  and  all  other  churches  Scrip- 
turally  wrong  —  they  always  seemed  to 
take  the  light  out  of  that  countenance. 
There  was  silence  in  the  study  now  as  the 
lad  modestly  seated  himself  in  a  chair 
which  the  pastor  had  pointed  out. 

After  fidgeting  a  few  moments,  he  ad 
dressed  the  logician  with  a  stupefying 
premise :  — 

"  My  great-grandfather,"  he  said.  "  once 
built  a  church  simply  to  God,  not  to  any 
man's  opinions  of  Him." 

He  broke  off  abruptly. 


The  Reipn  of  Law  9,, 

"  So  did  Voltaire,"  remarked  the  pastor 
dryly,  coming  to   the   rescue.      "  Voltaire 
built  a  church  to  God :  '  Erexit  deo   Vol 
taire!     Your  great-grandfather  and   Vol 
taire  must  have  been  kin  to  each  other." 

The  lad  had  never  heard  of  Voltaire 
The  information  was  rather  prepossessing. 

"  I  think  I  should  admire  Voltaire,"  he 
observed  reflectively. 

"  So  did  the  Devil,"  remarked  the  pastor. 
Then  he  added  pleasantly,  for  he  had  a 
Scotch  relish  for  a  theological  jest :  — 

"  You  may  meet  Voltaire  some  day." 

"  I  should  like  to.  Is  he  coming  here  ?  " 
asked  the  lad. 

"  Not  immediately.  He  is  in  hell  —  or 
will  be  after  the  Resurrection  of  the 
Dead." 

The  silence  in  the  study  grew  intense. 

"  I  understand  you  now,"  said  the  lad, 
speaking  composedly  all  at  once.  "  You 
think  that  perhaps  I  will  go  to  the  Devil 
also." 

"  Oh,  no ! "  exclaimed  the  pastor,  hid 
ing  his  smile  and  stroking  his  beard  with 


92  The  Reign  of  Law 

syllogistic  self-respect.  "  My  dear  young 
brother,  did  you  want  to  see  me  on  any 
—  business  ?  " 

"  I  did.  I  was  trying  to  tell  you.  My 
great-grandfather  —  " 

"  Couldn't  you  begin  with  more  modern 
times  ? " 

"  The  story  begins  back  there,"  insisted 
the  lad,  firmly,  "  The  part  of  it,  at  leasts 
that  affects  me.  My  great-grandfather 
founded  a  church  free  to  all  Christian 
believers.  It  stands  in  our  neighborhood. 
I  have  always  gone  there.  I  joined  the 
church  there.  All  the  different  denomi 
nations  in  our  part  of  the  country  have  held 
services  there.  Sometimes  they  have  all 
had  services  together.  I  grew  up  to  think 
they  were  all  equally  good  Christians  in 
their  different  ways." 

"  Did  you?"  inquired  the  pastor.  "You 
and  your  grandfather  and  Voltaire  must  all 
be  kin  to  each  other." 

His  visage  was  not  pleasant. 

41  My  trouble  since  coming  to  College/' 
said  the  lad,  pressing  across  the  interrup 


The  Reign  of  Law  93 

don,  *'  has  been  to  know  which  is  the  right 
church  —  " 

"  Are  you  a  member  of  this  church  ? ; 
inquired  the  pastor  sharply,  calling  a  halt 
to  this  folly. 

"  I  am." 

"  Then  don't  you  know  that  it  is  the 
only  right  one  ?  " 

"  I  do  not.  All  the  others  declare  it  a 
wrong  one.  They  stand  ready  to  prove 
this  by  the  Scriptures  and  do  prove  it  to 
their  satisfaction.  They  declare  that  if  I 
become  a  preacher  of  what  my  church 
believes,  I  shall  become  a  false  teacher  of 
men  and  be  responsible  to  God  for  the 
souls  I  may  lead  astray.  They  honestly 
believe  this." 

"  Don't  vou  know  that  when  Satan  has 

J 

entered  into  a  man,  he  can  make  him  hon 
estly  believe  anything  ? " 

"  And  you  think  it  is  Satan  that  keeps 
the  other  churches  from  seeing  this  is 
the  only  right  one  ? " 

"I  do !  And  beware,  young  man,  that 
Satan  does  not  get  in 


94  The  Reign  of  Law 

"  He  must  be  in  me  already."  There 
was  silence  again,  then  the  lad  continued 

"  All  this  is  becoming  a  great  trouble  to 
me.  It  interferes  with  my  studies — takes 
my  interest  out  of  my  future.  I  come  to 
you  then.  You  are  my  pastor.  Where  i& 
the  truth  —  the  reason  —  the  proof  —  the 
(  authority  ?  Where  is  the  guiding  law  in 
all  this  ?  I  must  find  the  law  and  that 
quickly." 

There  was  no  gainsaying  his  trouble ; 
it  expressed  itself  in  his  eyes,  voice,  entire 
demeanor.  The  pastor  was  not  seeing 
any  of  these  things.  Here  was  a  plain . 
ignorant  country  lad  who  had  rejected 
his  logic  and  who  apparently  had  not 
tact  enough  at  this  moment  to  appre 
ciate  his  own  effrontery.  In  the  whole 
sensitiveness  of  man  there  is  no  spot  so 
touchy  as  the  theological. 

"  Have  you  a  copy  of   the  New  Testa 
ment  i> " 

It  was  the  tone  in  which  the  school 
master  of  old  times  said,  "  Bring  me  that 
switch." 


The  Reign  of  Law  95 

"I  have," 

"  You  can  read  it  ? 

« I  can." 

"  You  find  in  it  the  inspired  account  of 
the  faith  of  the  original  church  —  the  earli 
est  history  of  Apostolic  Christianity? " 

"  I  do." 

"  Then,  can  you  not  compare  the  teach 
ings  of  the  Apostles,  their  faith  and  their 
practice,  with  the  teachings  of  this  church  ? 
Its  faith  and  its  practice  ?  " 

"  I  have  tried  to  do  that." 

"  Then  there  is  the  truth.  And  the  rea 
son.  And  the  proof.  And  the  authority. 
And  the  law.  We  have  no  creed  but  the 
creed  of  the  Apostolic  churches ;  no  prac 
tice  but  their  practice;  no  teaching  but 
their  teaching  in  letter  and  in  spirit." 

"  That  is  what  was  told  me  before  I  came 
to  college.  It  was  told  me  that  young 
men  were  to  be  prepared  to  preach  the 
simple  Gospel  of  Christ  to  all  the  world 
There  was  to  be  no  sectarian  theology." 

"  Well  ?  Has  any  one  taught  you  sec 
tarian  theology  ? " 


96  The  Reign  of  Law 

"  Not  consciously,  not  intentionally.  In 
evitably —  perhaps.  That  is  my  trouble 
now — one  of  my  troubles." 

"  Well  ? " 

"  May  I  ask  you  some  questions  ?  " 

"You  may  ask  me  some  questions  if 
they  are  not  silly  questions.  You  don't 
seem  to  have  any  creed,  but  you  do  seem 
to  have  a  catechism !  Well,  on  with  the 
catechism !  I  hope  it  will  be  better  than 
those  I  have  read." 

So  bidden,  the  lad  began :  — 

"  Is  it  Apostolic  Christianity  to  declare 
that  infants  should  not  be  baptized  ?  " 

"  It  is !  "  The  reply  came  like  a  flash 
of  lightning. 

"  And  those  who  teach  to  the  contrary 
violate  the  word  of  God  ?  " 

"They  do!" 

"  Is  it  Apostolic  Christianity  to  affirm 
that  only  immersion  is  Christian  baptism  ?  " 

"  It  is  !  " 

"And  those  who  use  any  other  form 
violate  the  word  of  God  ? " 

"  They  do  !  " 


The  Reign  of  Law  9^ 

"  Is  it  Apostolic  Christianity  to  cele 
brate  the  Lord's  Supper  once  every  seven 
days?" 

"It  is!" 

"And  all  who  observe  a  different  cus 
tom  violate  the  word  of  God  ?  " 

"They  do!" 

"  Is  it  Apostolic  Christianity  to  have  no 
such  officer  in  the  church  as  an  Episcopal 
bishop  ? " 

"  It  is !  " 

"  The  office  of  Bishop,  then,  is  a  violation 
of  Apostolic  Christianity?" 

"  It  is !  " 

"  Is  it  Apostolic  Christianity  to  make 
every  congregation,  no  matter  how  small 
or  influenced  by  passion,  an  absolute  court 
of  trial  and  punishment  of  his  members  ? " 

"It  is!" 

"  To  give  every  such  body  control  over 
the  religious  standing  of  its  members,  so 
it  may  turn  them  out  into  the  world, 
banish  them  from  the  church  of  Christ 
forever,  if  it  sees  fit  ? " 

"  It  is !  " 

H 


g8  The  Reign  of  Law 

"  And  those  who  frame  any  other  sys 
tern  of  church  government  violate  the  — : 

"  They  do  !  " 

"  Is  it  Apostolic  Christianity  to  teach 
that  faith  precedes  repentance  ?  " 

"  It  is !  " 

"  Those  who  teach  that  sorrow  for  sin  is 
itself  the  great  reason  why  we  believe  in 
Christ  —  do  they  violate  —  ?  " 

"  They  do !  " 

**  Is  it  Apostolic  Christianity  to  turn 
people  out  of  the  church  for  dancing  ? " 

"  It  is  ! " 

"The  use  of  an  organ  in  worship  —  is 
that  a  violation  of  Apostolic  —  ?  " 

"  It  is  ! " 

"  Is  it  Apostolic  Christianity  to  require 
that  the  believer  in  it  shall  likewise  believe 
everything  in  the  old  Bible  ?  " 

"  It  is/' 

"Did  Christ  and  the  Apostles  them 
selves  teach  that  everything  contained  in 
what  we  call  the  old  Bible  must  be  be 
lieved  ? " 

"They  did!" 


The  Reign  of  Law  90 

The  pastor  was  grasping  the  arms  oi 
his  chair,  his  body  bent  toward  the  lad 
his  head  thrown  back,  his  face  livid  with 
sacred  rage.  He  was  a  good  man,  tried 
and  true :  God-fearing,  God-serving.  No 
fault  lay  in  him  unless  it  may  be  im 
puted  for  unrighteousness  that  he  was  a 
stanch,  trenchant  sectary  in  his  place 
and  generation.  As  he  sat  there  in  the 
basement  study  of  his  church,  his  pulpit 
of  authority  and  his  baptismal  pool  oi 
regeneration  directly  over  his  head,  all 
round  him  in  the  city  the  solid  hundreds 
of  his  followers,  he  forgot  himself  as  a 
man  and  a  minister  and  remembered  only 
that  as  a  servant  of  the  Most  High  he 
was  being  interrogated  and  dishonored 
His  soul  shook  and  thundered  within  him 
to  repel  these  attacks  upon  his  Lord  and 
Master.  As  those  unexpected  random 
questions  had  poured  in  upon  him  thick 
and  fast,  all  emerging,  as  it  seemed  to  him 
like  disembodied  evil  spirits  from  the  black 
pit  of  Satan  and  the  damned,  it  was  joy  to 
him  to  deal  to  each  that  same  straight 


xoo  The  Reign  of  Law 

God-directed    spear-thrust   of    a   reply  - 
killing  them  as  they  rose.     His  soul  ex 
ulted  in  that  blessed  carnage. 

But  the  questions  ceased.  They  had 
hurried  out  as  though  there  were  a  myriad 
pressing  behind  —  a  few  issuing  bees  of  an 
aroused  swarm.  But  they  ceased.  The 
pastor  leaned  back  in  his  chair  and  drew 
a  quivering  breath  through  his  white  lips. 

"  Ask  some  more  !  " 

On  his  side,  the  lad  had  lost  divine 
passion  as  the  pastor  had  gained  it/  His 
interest  waned  while  the  pastor's  waxed. 
His  last  questions  were  put  so  falter- 
ingly,  almost  SG  inaudibly,  that  the  pastor 
might  well  believe  his  questioner  beaten., 
brought  back  to  modesty  and  silence. 
To  a  deeper-seeing  eye,  however,  the  truth 
would  have  been  plain  that  the  lad  was 
not  seeing  his  pastor  at  all,  but  seeing 
through  him  into  his  own  future :  into 
his  life,  his  great  chosen  life-work.  His 
young  feet  had  come  in  their  travels  nigh 
to  the  limits  of  his  Promised  Land :  he 
was  looking  over  into  it. 


TJie  Reign  of  Law  161 

"  Ask  some  more !  The  last  of  them  \ 
Out  with  them  all!  Make  an  end  of  this 
now  and  here  i  " 

The  lad  reached  for  his  hat,  which  he 
had  laid  on  the  floor,  and  stood  up0  He 
was  as  pale  as  the  dead. 

"  I  shall  never  be  able  to  preach  Apos 
tolic  Christianity,"  he  said,  and  turned  to 
the  door. 

But  reaching  it,  he  wheeled  and  came 
back. 

"  I  am  in  trouble ! "  he  cried,  sitting 
down  again.  "  I  don't  know  what  to  be 
lieve.  I  don't  know  what  I  do  believe. 
My  God ! "  he  cried  again,  burying  his 
face  in  his  hands.  4<  I  believe  I  am  begin 
ning  to  doubt  the  Bible.  Great  God,  what 
am  I  coming  to !  what  is  my  life  coming 
to !  Me  doubt  the  Bible  I"  .  . 

The  interview  of  that  day  was  one  of 
the  signs  of  two  storms  which  were  ap 
proaching  :  one  appointed,  to  reach  the 
University,  one  to  reach  the  lad. 

The    storm    now    gathering    in    many 


1 6*2'  'The  Reign  of  Law 

quarters  and  destined  in  a  few  years  to 
burst  upon  the  University  was  like  its 
other  storms  that  had  gone  before :  only, 
this  last  one  left  it  a  ruin  which  will  stay 
a  ruin. 

That  oldest,  best  passion  of  the  Ken 
tucky  people  for  the  establishment  in  their 
own  land  of  a  broad  institution  of  learn 
ing  for  their  own  sons,  though  revived 
in  David's  time  on  a  greater  scale  than 
ever  before,  was  not  to  be  realized.  The 
new  University,  bearing  the  name  of  the 
commonwealth  and  opening  at  the  close 
of  the  Civil  War  as  a  sign  of  the  new 
peace  of  the  new  nation,  having  begun  so 
fairly  and  risen  in  a  few  years  to  fourth  or 
fifth  place  in  patronage  among  all  those 
in  the  land,  was  already  entering  upon  its 
decline.  The  reasons  of  this  were  the 
same  that  had  successively  ruined  each  of 
its  predecessors :  the  same  old  sectarian 
quarrels,  enmities,  revenges ;  the  same 
old  political  oppositions  and  hatreds;  the 
same  personal  ambitions,  jealousies,  strifes. 

Away  back  in    1780,  while  every  man, 


The  Reign  of  Law  103 

woman,  and  child  in  the  western  wilder 
ness  was  in  dire  struggle  for  life  itself, 
those  far-seeing  people  had  induced  the 
General  Assembly  of  Virginia  to  confis 
cate  and  sell  in  Kentucky  the  lands  of 
British  Tories,  to  found  a  public  seminary 
for  Kentucky  boys  —  not  a  sectarian  school. 
These  same  broad-minded  pioneers  had 
later  persuaded  her  to  give  twenty  thou 
sand  acres  of  her  land  to  the  same  cause 
and  to  exempt  officers  and  students  of  the 
institution  from  military  service.  Still 
later,  intent  upon  this  great  work,  they 
had  induced  Virginia  to  take  from  her 
own  beloved  William  and  Mary  one-sixth 
of  all  surveyors'  fees  in  the  district  and 
contribute  them.  The  early  Kentuckians, 
for  their  part,  planned  and  sold  out  a  lot 
tery  —  to  help  along  the  incorruptible 
work.  For  such  an  institution  Washing 
ton  and  Adams  and  Aaron  Burr  and 
Thomas  Marshall  and  many  another 
opened  their  purses.  For  it  thousands 
and  thousands  of  dollars  were  raised 
among  friends  scattered  throughout  the 


The  Reign  of  Law 

Atlantic  states,  these  responding  to  a 
petition  addressed  to  all  religious  sects : 
to  all  political  parties.  A  library  and 
philosophical  apparatus  were  wagoned 
over  the  Alleghanies.  A  committee  was 
sent  to  England  to  choose  further  equip 
ments.  When  Kentucky  came  to  have  a 
legislature  of  its  own,  it  decreed  that  each 
of  the  counties  in  the  state  should  receive 
six  thousand  acres  of  land  wherewith  to 
start  a  seminary ;  and  that  all  these  county 
seminaries  were  to  train  students  for  this 
long-dreamed-of  central  institution.  That 
they  might  not  be  sent  away — to  the 
North  or  to  Europe.  When,  at  the  end 
of  the  Civil  War,  a  fresh  attempt  (and  the 
last)  was  made  to  found  in  reality  and  in 
perpetuity  a  home  institution  to  be  as 
good  as  the  best  in  the  republic,  the 
people  rallied  as  though  they  had  never 
known  defeat.  The  idea  resounded  like 
a  great  trumpet  throughout  the  land.  In 
dividual,  legislative,  congressional  aid  — 
all  were  poured  out  lavishly  for  that  one 
devoted  cause. 


The  Reign  of  Law  105 

Sad  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  Ken- 
tuckians!  Perhaps  the  saddest  among 
the  many  sad  ones. 

For  such  an  institution  must  in  time 
have  taught  what  all  its  court-houses  and 
all  its  pulpits  —  laws  human  and  divine  — 
have  not  been  able  to  teach :  it  must  have 
taught  the  noble  commonwealth  to  cease 
murdering.  Standing  there  in  the  heart 
of  the  people's  land,  it  must  have  grown 
to  stand  in  the  heart  of  their  affections: 
and  so  standing,  to  stand  for  peace.  For 
true  learning  always  stands  for  peace. 
Letters  always  stand  for  peace.  And  it 
is  the  scholar  of  the  world  who  has  ever 
come  into  it  as  Christ  came:  to  teach  that 
human  life  is  worth  saving  and  must  be 
saved. 

VII 

THE  storm  approaching  David  was 
vaster  and  came  faster. 

Several  days  had  passed  since  his 
anxious  and  abruptly  terminated  interview 
with  his  pastor.  During  the  interval  he 


io6  The  Reign  of  Law 

had  addressed  no  further  inquiries  to  any 
man  touching  his  religious  doubts.  A  seri 
ous  sign :  for  when  we  cease  to  carry  such 
burdens  to  those  who  wait  near  by  as 
our  recognized  counsellors  and  appointed 
guides,  the  inference  is  that  succor  for  our 
peculiar  need  has  there  been  sought  in 
vain.  This  succor,  if  existent  at  all,  will  be 
found  elsewhere  in  one  of  two  places: 
either  farther  away  from  home  in  greater 
minds  whose  teaching  has  not  yet  reached 
us ;  or  still  nearer  home  in  what  remains 
as  the  last  court  of  inquiry  and  decision : 
in  the  mind  itself.  With  greater  intellects 
more  remote  the  lad  had  not  yet  been  put 
in  touch  ;  he  had  therefore  grown  reflect 
ive,  and  for  nearly  a  week  had  been  spend 
ing  the  best  powers  of  his  unaided  thought 
in  self-examination. 

He  was  sitting  one  morning  at  his  stu 
dent's  table  with  his  Bible  and  note-book 
opened  before  him,  wrestling  with  his 
problems  still.  The  dormitory  was  very 
quiet.  A  few  students  remained  indoors 
at  work,  but  most  were  absent :  some  gone 


The  Reign  of  Law  107 

into  the  country  to  preach  trial  sermons 
to  trying  congregations ;  some  down  in 
the  town;  some  at  the  college,  practising 
hymns,  or  rehearsing  for  society  exhibi 
tions  ;  some  scattered  over  the  campus, 
preparing  Monday  lessons  on  a  spring 
morning  when  animal  sap  stirs  intelli 
gently  at  its  sources  and  sends  up  its 
mingled  currents  of  new  energy  ^nd  new 
lassitude. 

David  had  thrown  his  window  wide 
open,  to  let  in  the  fine  air  ;  his  eyes  strayed 
outward.  A  few  yards  away  stood  a 
stunted  transplanted  locust  —  one  of  those 
uncomplaining  asses  of  the  vegetable  king 
dom  whose  mission  in  life  is  to  carry 
whatever  man  imposes.  Year  after  year 
this  particular  tree  had  remained  patiently 
backed  up  behind  the  dormitory,  for  the 
bearing  of  garments  to  be  dusted  or  dried. 
More  than  once  during  the  winter,  the  lad 
had  gazed  out  of  his  snow-crusted  panes 
at  this  dwarfed  donkey  of  the  woods,  its 
feet  buried  deep  in  ashes,  its  body  covered 
with  kitchen  wash-rags  and  Bible  students' 


io8  The  Reign  of  Law 

frozen  underwear.  He  had  reasoned  that 
such  soil  and  such  servitude  had  killed  it. 

But  as  he  looked  out  of  his  window 
now,  his  eyes  caught  sight  of  the  early 
faltering  green  in  which  this  exile  of 
the  forest  was  still  struggling  to  clothe 
itself  —  its  own  life  vestments.  Its  en 
forced  and  artificial  function  as  a  human 
clothes-horse  had  indeed  nearly  destroyed 
it ;  but  wherever  a  bud  survived,  there  its 
true  office  in  nature  was  asserted,  its 
ancient  kind  declared,  its  growth  stub 
bornly  resumed. 

The  moment  for  the  lad  may  have  been 
one  of  those  in  the  development  of  the 
young  when  they  suddenly  behold  familiar 
objects  as  with  eyes  more  clearly  opened; 
when  the  neutral  becomes  the  decisive; 
when  the  sermon  is  found  in  the  stone, 
As  he  now  took  curious  cognizance  of  the 
budding  wood  which  he,  seeing  it  only  in 
winter,  had  supposed  could  not  bud  again, 
he  fell  to  marvelling  how  constant  each 
separate  thing  in  nature  is  to  its  own  life 
and  how  sole  is  its  obligation  to  live  that 


The  Reign  of  Law  109 

life  only.  All  that  a  locust  had  to  do  in 
the  world  was  to  be  a  locust;  and  be  a 
locust  it  would  though  it  perished  in  the 
attempt.  It  drew  back  with  no  hesitation, 
was  racked  with  no  doubt,  puzzled  with 
no  necessity  of  preference.  It  knew  abso 
lutely  the  law  of  its  own  being  and  knew 
absolutely  nothing  else ;  found  under  that 
law  its  liberty,  found  under  that  liberty  its 
life. 

"  But  I,"  he  reflected,  "  am  that  which 
was  never  sown  and  never  grown  before. 
All  the  ages  of  time,  all  the  generations  of 
men,  have  not  fixed  any  type  of  life  for  me. 
What  I  am  to  become  I  must  myself  each 
instant  choose ;  and  having  chosen,  I  can 
never  know  that  I  have  chosen  best.  Often 
I  do  know  that  what  I  have  selected  I  must 
discard.  And  yet  no  one  choice  can  ever 
be  replaced  by  its  rejected  fellow;  the  better 
chance  lost  once,  is  lost  eternally.  Within 
the  limits  of  a  locust,  how  little  may  the 
individual  wander;  within  the  limits  of 
the  wide  and  erring  human,  what  may  not 
a  man  become !  What  now  am  I  becom- 


1 10  The  Reign  of  Law 

ing  ?     What  shall  I  now  choose  —  as  my 
second  choice  ? " 

A  certain  homely  parallel  between  the 
tree    and   himself    began   to   shape    itself 
before  his  thought :  how  he,  too,  had  been 
dug  up  far  away  —  had,  in  a  sense,  volun 
tarily  dug  himself   up  —  and    been  trans 
planted  in  the  college  campus ;  how,  ever 
since  being  placed  there,  the  different  sec 
tarian  churches  of  the  town  had,  without 
exception,  begun  to  pin  on  the  branches  of 
his   mind   the  many-shaped   garments   of 
their   dogmas,  until    by  this   time  he  ap 
peared  to  himself  as  completely  draped  as 
the  little   locust   after  a  heavy  dormitory 
washing.     There  was  this  terrible   differ 
ence,  however:   that  the  garments   hung 
on  the  tree  were  anon  removed ;  but  these 
doctrines  and  dogmas  were  fastened  to  his 
mind  to  stay  —  as  the  very  foliage  of  his 
thought  —  as  the  living  leaves  of   Divine 
Truth.     He  was  forbidden  to  strip  off  one 
of  those  sacred  leaves.    He  was  told  to  live 
and  to  breathe  his  religious  life  through 
them,  and  to  grow  only  where  they  hung. 


The  Reign  of  Law  1 1 1 

The  lad  declared  finally  to  himself  this 
morning,  thai  realize  his  religious  life 
through  those  dogmas  he  never  could ; 
that  it  was  useless  any  longer  to  try. 
Little  by  little  they  would  as  certainly  kill 
him  in  growth  and  spirit  as  the  rags  had 
killed  the  locust  in  sap  and  bud.  What 
ever  they  might  be  to  others  —  and  he 
judged  no  man  — for  him  with  his  pecul 
iar  nature  they  could  never  be  life-vest 
ments;  they  would  become  his  spiritual 
grave-clothes. 

The  parallel  went  a  little  way  further: 
that  scant  faltering  green !  that  uncon 
querable  effort  of  the  tree  to  assert  de 
spite  all  deadening  experiences  its  old 
wildwood  state !  Could  he  do  the  like 
could  he  go  back  to  his  ?  Yearning,  sad, 
immeasurable  filled  him  as  he  now  recalled 
the  simple  faith  of  what  had  already  seemed 
to  him  his  childhood.  Through  the  mist 
blinding  his  vision,  through  the  doubts 
blinding  his  brain,  still  could  he  see  it 
lying  there  clear  in  the  near  distance! 
:  No,"  he  cried,  "  into  whatsoever  future 


112  The  Reign  of  Law 

I  may  be  driven  to  enter,  closed  against 
me  is  the  peace  of  my  past,  Return  thither 
my  eyes  ever  will,  my  feet  never ! 

"  But  as  I  was  true  to  myself  then,  let 
me  be  true  now.  If  I  cannot  believe  what 
I  formerly  believed,  let  me  determine 
quickly  what  I  can  believe.  The  Truth, 
the  Law —  1  must  find  these  and  quickly! " 

From  all  of  which,  though  thus  ob 
scurely  set  forth,  it  will  be  divined  that  the 
lad  had  now  reached,  indeed  for  some 
days  had  stood  halting,  at  one  of  the  great 
partings  of  the  ways :  when  the  whole  of 
Life's  road  can  be  walked  in  by  us  no 
longer;  when  we  must  elect  the  half  we 
shall  henceforth  follow,  and  having  taken 
it,  ever  afterward  perhaps  look  yearningly 
back  upon  the  other  as  a  lost  trail  of  the 
mind. 

The  parting  of  the  ways  where  he  had 
thus  faltered,  summing  up  his  bewilder 
ment,  and  crying  aloud  for  fresh  directions, 
was  one  immemorially  old  in  the  history  of 
man :  the  splitting  of  Life's  single  road  into 


The  Reign  of  Law  113 

the  by-paths  of  Doubt  and  Faith.  Until 
within  less  than  a  year,  his  entire  youth 
had  been  passed  in  the  possession  of  what 
he  esteemed  true  religion.  Brought  from 
the  country  into  the  town,  where  each  of 
the  many  churches  was  proclaiming  it 
self  the  sole  incarnation  of  this  and  all 
others  the  embodiment  of  something  false, 
he  had,  after  months  of  distracted  wander 
ing  among  their  contradictory  clamors, 
passed  as  so  many  have  passed  before  him 
into  that  state  of  mind  which  rejects  them 
all  and  asks  whether  such  a  thing  as  true 
religion  anywhere  exists. 

The  parting  of  Life's  road  at  Doubt  and 
Faith !  How  many  pilgrim  feet  through 
out  the  ages,  toiling  devoutly  thus  far, 
have  shrunk  back  before  that  unexpected 
and  appalling  sign  !  Disciples  of  the  liv 
ing  Lord,  saints,  philosophers,  scholars, 
priests,  knights,  statesmen  —  what  a  throng ! 
What  thoughts  there  born,  prayers  there 
ended,  vows  there  broken,  light  there  break 
ing,  hearts  there  torn  in  twain !  Mighty 
mountain  rock !  rising  full  in  the  road  of 


1 1 4  The  Reign  of  Law 

journeying  humanity.  Around  its  base 
the  tides  of  the  generations  dividing  as 
part  the  long  racing  billows  of  the  sea 
about  some  awful  cliff. 

The  lad  closed  his  note-book,  and  taking 
his  chair  to  the  window,  folded  his  arms  on 
the  sill  and  looked  out  Soon  he  noticed 
what  had  escaped  him  before.  Beyond  the 
tree,  at  the  foot  of  the  ash-heap,  a  single 
dandelion  had  opened.  It  burned  like  a 
steadfast  yellow  lamp,  low  in  the  edge  of 
the  young  grass.  These  two  simple  things 
—  the  locust  leaves,  touched  by  the  sun, 
shaken  by  the  south  wind ;  the  dandelion 
shining  in  the  grass  —  awoke  in  him  the 
whole  vision  of  the  spring  now  rising  anew 
out  of  the  Earth,  all  over  the  land :  great 
Nature!  And  the  vision  of  this  caused 
him  to  think  of  something  else. 

On  the  Sunday  following  his  talk  with 
the  lad,  the  pastor  had  preached  the  most 
arousing  sermon  that  the  lad  had  heard : 
it  had  grown  out  of  that  interview :  it  was 
on  modern  infidelity  —  the  new  infidelity 
as  contrasted  with  the  old. 


The  Reign  of  Law  1 1 5 

In  this  sermon  he  had  arraigned  certain 
books  as  largely  responsible.  He  called 
them  by  their  titles.  He  warned  his  peo 
ple  against  them.  Here  recommenced  the 
old  story :  the  lad  was  at  once  seized  with 
a  desire  to  read  those  books,  thus  exhibit 
ing  again  the  identical  trait  that  had  already 
caused  him  so  much  trouble.  But  this 
trait  was  perhaps  himself  —  his  core ;  the 
demand  of  his  nature  to  hear  both  sides, 
to  judge  evidence,  test  things  by  his  own 
reason,  get  at  the  deepest  root  of  a  matter: 
to  see  Truth,  and  to  see  Truth  whole. 

Curiously  enough,  these  books,  and 
some  others,  had  been  much  heard  of  by 
the  lad  since  coming  to  college:  once; 
then  several  times ;  then  apparently  every 
where  and  all  the  time.  For,  intellectually, 
they  had  become  atmospheric:  they  had 
to  be  breathed,  as  a  newly  introduced  vital 
element  of  the  air,  whether  liked  or  not 
liked  by  the  breathers.  They  were  the 
early  works  of  the  great  Darwin,  together 
with  some  of  that  related  illustrious  group 
of  scientific  investigators  and  thinkers,  who, 


ii6  The  Reign  of  Law 

emerging  like  promontories,  islands,  entire 
new  countries,  above  the  level  of  the  world's 
knowledge,  sent  their  waves  of  influence 
rushing  away  to  every  shore.  It  was  in 
those  years  that  they  were  flowing  over  the 
United  States,  over  Kentucky.  And  as 
some  volcanic  upheaval  under  mid-ocean 
will  in  time  rock  the  tiny  boat  of  a  sailor 
boy  in  some  little  sheltered  bay  on  the 
other  side  of  the  planet,  so  the  sublime 
disturbance  in  the  thought  of  the  civilized 
world  in  the  second  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century  had  reached  David. 

Sitting  at  his  window,  looking  out 
blindly  for  help  and  helpers  amid  his 
doubts,  seeing  the  young  green  of  the 
locust,  the  yellow  of  the  dandelion,  he 
recalled  the  names  of  those  anathematized 
books,  which  were  described  as  dealing 
so  strangely  with  nature  and  with  man's 
place  in  it.  The  idea  dominated  him 
at  last  to  go  immediately  and  get  those 
books. 

A  little  later  he  might  have  been  seen 
quitting  the  dormitory  and  taking  his  way 


The  Reign  of  Law  117 

with  a  dubious  step  across  the  campus 
into  the  town. 

Saturday  forenoons  of  spring  were  busy 
times  for  the  town  in  those  days.  Farm 
ers  were  in,  streets  were  crowded  with 
their  horses  and  buggies  and  rockaways, 
with  live  stock,  with  wagons  hauling  cord- 
wood,  oats,  hay,  and  hemp.  Once,  at  a 
crossing,  David  waited  while  a  wagon 
loaded  with  soft,  creamy,  gray  hemp 
creaked  past  toward  a  factory.  He  sniffed 
with  relish  the  tar  of  the  mud-packed 
wheels ;  he  put  out  a  hand  and  stroked 
the  heads  drawn  close  in  familiar  bales. 

Crowded,  too,  of  Saturdays  was  the  book 
shop  to  which  the  students  usually  resorted 
for  their  supplies.  Besides  town  customers 
and  country  customers,  the  pastor  of  the 
church  often  dropped  in  and  sat  near  the 
stove,  discoursing,  perhaps,  to  some  of  his 
elders,  or  to  reverent  Bible  students,  or  old 
acquaintances.  A  small,  tight,  hot,  metal- 
smelling  stove  —  why  is  it  so  enjoyable  by 
a  dogmatist  ? 

As  David  made  his  way  to  the  rear  of 


1 1 8  The  Reign  of  Law 

the  long  bookshelves,  which  extended 
back  toward  the  stove,  the  pastor  rose 
and  held  out  his  hand  with  hearty  warmth 
—  and  a  glance  of  secret  solicitude.  The 
lad  looked  sheepish  with  embarrassment; 
not  until  accosted  had  he  himself  realized 
what  a  stray  he  had  become  from  his  pas 
tor's  flock  and  fold.  And  he  felt  that  he 
ought  instantly  to  tell  the  pastor  this  was 
the  case.  But  the  pastor  had  reseated 
himself  and  regripped  his  masterful  mon 
ologue.  The  lad  was  more  than  embar 
rassed  ;  he  felt  conscious  of  a  new  remorse 
ful  tenderness  for  this  grim,  righteous  man, 
now  that  he  had  emancipated  mind  and 
conscience  from  his  teaching:  so  true  it 
often  is  that  affection  is  possible  only 
where  obedience  is  not  demanded.  He 
turned  off  sorrowfully  to  the  counter,  and 
a  few  moments  later,  getting  the  attention 
of  the  clerk,  asked  in  a  low  conscience- 
stricken  tone  for  "  The  Origin  of  Species  " 
and  "  The  Descent  of  Man  " ;  conscience- 
stricken  at  the  sight  of  the  money  in  his 
palm  to  pay  for  them. 


^/ie  Reign  of  Law  119 

"  What  are  you  going  to  do  with  these  ?  " 
inquired  a  Bible  student  who  had  joined 
him  at  the  counter  and  fingered  the  books. 

"  Read  them,"  said  the  lad,  joyously, 
"  and  understand  them  if  I  can." 

He  pinned  them  against  his  heart  with 
his  elbow  and  all  but  ran  back  to  the 
dormitory.  Having  reached  there,  he 
altered  his  purpose  and  instead  of  mount 
ing  to  his  room,  went  away  off  to  a  quiet 
spot  on  the  campus  and,  lying  down  in  the 
grass  under  the  wide  open  sky,  opened  his 
wide  Darwin. 

It  was  the  first  time  in  his  life  that  he 
had  ever  encountered  outside  of  the  Bible 
a  mind  of  the  highest  order,  or  listened 
to  it,  as  it  delivered  over  to  mankind  the 
astounding  treasures  of  its  knowledge  and 
wisdom  in  accents  of  appealing,  almost 
plaintive  modesty. 

That  day  the  lad  changed  his  teachers. 

Of  the  session  more  than  two  months 
yet  remained.  Every  few  days  he  might 
have  been  seen  at  the  store,  examining 
books,  drawing  money  reluctantly  from  his 


I2O  The  Reign  of  Law 

pocket,  hurrying  away  with  another  vol 
ume.  Sometimes  he  would  deliver  to  the 
clerk  the  title  of  a  work  written  on  a  slip 
of  paper :  an  unheard-of  book ;  to  be 
ordered  —  perhaps  from  the  Old  World. 
For  one  great  book  inevitably  leads  to 
another.  They  have  their  parentage,  kin 
ship,  generations.  They  are  watch-towers 
in  sight  of  each  other  on  the  same  human 
highway.  They  are  strands  in  a  single 
cable  belting  the  globe.  Link  by  link 
David's  investigating  hands  were  slipping 
eagerly  along  a  mighty  chain  of  truths, 
forged  separately  by  the  giants  of  his  time 
and  now  welded  together  in  the  glowing 
thought  of  the  world. 

Not  all  of  these  were  scientific  works. 
Some  were  works  which  followed  in  the 
wake  of  the  new  science,  with  rapid  appli 
cations  of  its  methods  and  results  to  other 
subjects,  scarce  conterminous  or  not  even 
germane,  For  in  the  light  of  the  great 
central  idea  of  Evolution,  all  departments 
of  human  knowledge  had  to  be  reviewed, 
reconsidered,  reconceived,  rearranged,  re- 


The  Reign  of  Law  i2\ 

written.  Every  foremost  scholar  of  the 
world,  kindling  his  own  personal  lamp 
at  that  central  sunlike  radiance,  retired 
straightway  into  his  laboratory  of  what 
soever  kind  and  found  it  truly  illumi 
nated  for  the  first  time.  His  lamp  seemed 
to  be  of  two  flames  enwrapped  as  one ;  a 
baleful  and  a  benign.  Whenever  it  shone 
upon  anything  that  was  true,  it  made  this 
stand  out  the  more  clear,  valuable,  resplen 
dent.  But  wherever  it  uncovered  the  false, 
it  darted  thereat  a  swift  tongue  of  flame, 
consuming  without  mercy  the  ancient  rub 
bish  of  the  mind.  Vast  purification  of  the 
world  by  the  fire  of  truth !  There  have 
been  such  purifications  before ;  but  never 
perhaps  in  the  history  of  the  race  was  so 
much  burned  out  of  the  intellectual  path 
of  man  as  during  the  latter  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century. 

There  is  a  sort  of  land  which  receives 
in  autumn,  year  by  year,  the  deposit  of 
its  own  dead  leaves  and  weeds  and  grasses 
without  either  the  winds  and  waters  to 
clear  these  away  or  the  soil  to  reabsorb 


122  The  Reign  of  Law 

and  reconvert  them  into  the  materials  of 
reproduction.  Thus  year  by  year  the  land 
tends  farther  toward  sterility  by  the  very 
accumulation  of  what  was  once  its  life, 
But  send  a  forest  fire  across  those  smoth 
ering  strata  of  vegetable  decay ;  give  once 
more  a  chance  for  every  root  below  to  meet 
the  sun  above;  for  every  seed  above  to 
reach  the  ground  below;  soon  again  the 
barren  will  be  the  fertile,  the  desert  blos 
som  as  the  rose.  It  is  so  with  the  human 
mind.  It  is  ever  putting  forth  a  thousand 
things  which  are  the  expression  of  its  life 
for  a  brief  season.  These  myriads  of  things 
mature,  ripen,  bear  their  fruit,  fall  back  dead 
upon  the  soil  of  the  mind  itself.  That  mind 
may  be  the  mind  of  an  individual ;  it  may 
be  the  mind  of  a  century,  a  race,  a  civiliza 
tion.  To  the  individual,  then,  to  a  race,  a 
civilization,  a  century,  arrives  the  hour 
when  it  must  either  consume  its  own  dead 
or  surrender  its  own  life.  These  hours  are 
the  moral,  the  intellectual  revolutions  of 
history. 

The  new  science  must  not  only  clear 


The  Reign  of  Law  123 

the  stagnant  ground  for  the  growth  of 
new  ideas,  it  must  go  deeper.  Not 
enough  that  rubbish  should  be  burned : 
old  structures  of  knowledge  and  faith, 
dangerous,  tottering,  unfit  to  be  inhabited 
longer,  must  be  shaken  to  their  founda 
tions.  It  brought  on  therefore  a  period 
of  intellectual  upheaval  and  of  drift,  such 
as  was  once  passed  through  by  the  planet 
itself.  What  had  long  stood  locked  and 
immovable  began  to  move ;  what  had  been 
high  sank  out  of  sight;  what  had  been  low 
was  lifted.  The  mental  hearing,  listening 
as  an  ear  placed  amid  still  mountains, 
could  gather  into  itself  from  afar  the  slip 
and  fall  of  avalanches.  Whole  systems  of 
belief  which  had  chilled  the  soul  for  cen 
turies,  dropped  off  like  icebergs  into  the 
warming  sea  and  drifted  away,  melting 
into  nothingness. 

The  minds  of  many  men,  witnessing  this 
double  ruin  by  flame  and  earthquake,  are 
at  such  times  filled  with  consternation : 
to  them  it  seems  that  nothing  will  survive, 
that  beyond  these  cataclysms  there  will 


124  The  Reign  of  Law 

never  again  be  stability  and  peace  —  a 
new  and  better  age,  safer  footing,  wider 
horizons,  clearer  skies. 

It  was  so  now.  The  literature  of  the 
New  Science  was  followed  by  a  literature  of 
new  Doubt  and  Despair.  But  both  of  these 
were  followed  by  yet  another  literature 
which  rejected  alike  the  New  Science  and 
the  New  Doubt,  and  stood  by  all  that  was 
included  under  the  old  beliefs.  The  voices 
of  these  three  literatures  filled  the  world : 
they  were  the  characteristic  notes  of  that: 
half-century,  heard  sounding  together:  the 
Old  Faith,  the  New  Science,  the  New 
Doubt.  And  they  met  at  a  single  point  y 
they  met  at  man's  place  in  Nature,  at  the 
idea  of  God,  and  in  that  system  of  thought 
and  creed  which  is  Christianity. 

It  was  at  this  sublime  meeting-place  of 
the  Great  Three  that  this  untrained  and 
simple  lad  soon  arrived  —  searching  for  the 
truth.  Here  he  began  to  listen  to  them, 
one  after  another:  reading  a  little  in 
science  (he  was  not  prepared  for  that),  a 
little  in  the  old  faith,  but  most  in  the  new 


The  Reign  of  Law  125 

doubt.     For  this    he  was    ready;    toward 
this  he  had  been  driven. 

Its  earliest  effects  were  soon  exhibited 
in  him  as  a  student.  He  performed  all 
required  work,  slighted  no  class,  shirked  no 
rule,  transgressed  no  restriction.  But  he 
asked  no  questions  of  any  man  now,  no 
longer  roved  distractedly  among  the  sects, 
took  no  share  in  the  discussions  rife  in  his 
own  church.  There  were  changes  more 
significant:  he  ceased  to  attend  the  Bible 
students'  prayer-meeting  at  the  college  or 
the  prayer-meeting  of  the  congregation  in 
the  town ;  he  would  not  say  grace  at  those 
evening  suppers  of  the  Disciples;  he  de 
clined  the  Lord's  Supper;  his  voice  was 
not  heard  in  the  choir.  He  was,  singularly 
enough,  in  regular  attendance  at  morning 
and  night  services  of  the  church ;  but  he 
entered  timidly,  apologetically,  sat  as  near 
as  possible  to  the  door,  and  slipped^out  a 
little  before  the  people  were  dismissed: 
his  eyes  had  been  fixed  respectfully  on  his 
pastor  throughout  the  sermon,  but  his 
thoughts  were  in  other  temples. 


126  The  Reign  of  Law 


VIII 

THE  session  reached  its  close,  The 
students  were  scattered  far  among  the  vil 
lages,  farms,  cities  of  many  states.  Some 
never  to  return,  having  passed  from  the 
life  of  a  school  into  the  school  of  life  ;  some 
before  vacation  ended,  gone  with  their 
laughter  and  vigor  into  the  silence  of  the 
better  Teacher. 

Over  at  the  dormitory  the  annual  break 
ing-up  of  the  little  band  of  Bible  students 
had,  as  always,  been  affecting.    Calm,  cool 
bright  day  of  June  !  when  the  entire  poor 
tenement  house  was  fragrant  with  flowers 
brought    from    commencement ;    when    a 
south  wind  sent  ripples  over  the  campus 
grass ;  and  outside  the  campus,  across  the 
street,  the  yards  were  glowing  with  roses 
Oh,  the  roses   of  those  young  days,  how 
sweet,  how  sweet  they  were  !     How  much 
sweeter  now  after  the  long,  cruel,  evil  suf 
fering  years  which  have  passed  and  gon^ 
since  they  faded ! 


The  Reign  of  Law  127 

The  students  were  dispersed,  and  David 
sat  at  his  table  by  his  open  window,  writ 
ing  to  his  father  and  mother. 

After  telling  them  he  had  stood  well  in 
his  classes,  and  giving  some  descriptions  of 
the  closing  days  and  ceremonies  of  the  col 
lege,  for  he  knew  how  interested  they 
would  be  in  reading  about  these  things,  he 
announced  that  he  was  not  coming  home. 
He  enclosed  a  part  of  the  funds  still  on 
hand,  and  requested  his  father  to  hire  a 
man  in  his  place  to  work  on  the  farm  dur 
ing  the  summer.  He  said  nothing  of  his 
doubts  and  troubles,  but  gave  as  the  reason 
of  his  remaining  away  what  indeed  the 
reason  was  :  that  he  wished  to  study  dur 
ing  the  vacation ;  it  was  the  best  chance 
he  had  ever  had,  perhaps  would  ever  have  : 
and  it  was  of  the  utmost  importance  to  him 
to  settle  a  great  many  questions  before  the 
next  session  of  the  Bible  College  opened, 
His  expenses  would  be  small.  He  had 
made  arrangements  with  the  wife  of  the 
janitor  to  take  charge  of  his  room  and  his 
washing  and  to  give  him  his  meals :  his 


128  The  Reign  of  Law 

room  itself  would  not  cost  him  anything 
and  he  did  not  need  any  more  clothes. 

It  was  hard  to  stay  away  from  them0 
Not  until  separated,  had  he  realized  how 
dear  they  were  to  him.  He  could  not  bear 
even  to  write  about  all  that.  And  he  was 
homesick  for  the  sight  of  the  farm,  —  the 
horses  and  cows  and  sheep,  —  for  the  sight 
of  Captain.  But  he  must  remain  where  he 
was ;  what  he  had  to  do  must  be  done 
quickly — -a  great  duty  was  involved.  And 
they  must  write  to  him  oftener  because  he 
would  need  their  letters,  their  love,  more 
than  ever  now.  And  so  God  keep  them 
in  health  and  bless  them.  And  he  was 
their  grateful  son,  who  too  often  had  been 
a  care  to  them,  who  could  never  forget  the 
sacrifices  they  had  made  to  send  him  to 
college,  and  whose  only  wish  was  that  he 
might  not  cause  them  any  disappointment 
in  the  future. 

This  letter  drew  a  quick  reply  from  his 
father.  He  returned  the  money,  saying 
that  he  had  done  better  on  the  farm  than 
he  had  expected  and  did  not  need  it,  and 


The  Reign  of  Law  129 

that  he  had  a  man  employed,  his  formei 
slave.  Sorry  as  they  were  not  to  see  him 
that  summer,  still  they  were  glad  of  his 
desire  to  study  through  vacation.  His  own 
life  had  not  been  very  successful ;  he  had 
tried  hard,  but  had  failed.  For  a  long  time 
now  he  had  been  accepting  the  failure  as 
best  he  could.  But  compensation  for  all 
this  were  the  new  interests,  hopes,  ambi 
tions,  which  centred  in  the  life  of  his  son. 
To  see  him  a  minister,  a  religious  leader 
among  men  —  that  would  be  happiness 
enough  for  him.  His  family  had  always 
been  a  religious  people.  One  thing  he 
was  already  looking  forward  to  :  he  wanted 
his  son  to  preach  his  first  sermon  in  the 
neighborhood  church  founded  by  the  lad's 
great-grandfather  —  that  would  be  the 
proudest  hour  of  his  life  and  in  the  lad's 
mother's.  There  were  times  in  the  past 
when  perhaps  he  had  been  hard  on  him, 
not  understanding  him ;  this  only  made 
his  wish  the  greater  to  aid  him  now  in 
every  way,  at  any  cost.  When  they  were 
not  talking  of  him  at  home,  they  were 


1 30  The  Reign  of  Law 

thinking  of  him.  And  they  blessed  God 
that  He  had  given  them  such  a  son.  Let 
him  not  be  troubled  about  the  future  ;  they 
knew  that  he  would  never  disappoint  them. 

David  sat  long  immovable  before  that 
letter. 

One  other  Bible  student  remained.  On 
the  campus,  not  far  from  the  dormitory, 
stood  a  building  of  a  single  story,  of 
several  rooms.  In  one  of  these  rooms 
there  lived,  with  his  family,  that  tall, 
gaunt,  shaggy,  middle-aged  man,  in  his 
shiny  black  coat  and  paper  collars,  with 
out  any  cravats,  who  had  been  the  lad's 
gentle  monitor  on  the  morning  of  his 
entering  college.  He,  too,  was  to  spend 
the  summer  there,  having  no  means  of 
getting  away  with  his  wife  and  children. 
Though  he  sometimes  went  off  himself, 
to  hold  meetings  where  he  could  and  for 
what  might  be  paid  him  ;  now  preaching 
and  baptizing  in  the  mountains;  now 
back  again,  laboring  in  his  shirt-sleeves 
at  the  Pentateuch  and  the  elementary 
structure  of  the  English  language.  Such 


The  Reign  of  Law  131 

troubles  as  David's  were  not  for  him ;  nor 
science  nor  doubt.  His  own  age  con 
tained  him  as  a  green  field  might  hold  a 
rock.  Not  that  this  kind,  faithful,  helpful 
soul  was  a  lifeless  stone ;  but  that  he  was 
as  unresponsive  to  the  movements  of  his 
time  as  a  boulder  is  to  the  energies  of  a 
field.  Alive  in  his  own  sublime  way  he 
was,  and  inextricably  rooted  in  one  ever- 
living  book  alone  —  the  Bible, 

This  middle-aged,  childlike  man,  settled 
near  David  as  his  neighbor,  was  forever  a 
reminder  to  him  of  the  faith  he  once  had 
had  —  the  faith  of  his  earliest  youth,  the 
faith  of  his  father  and  mother.  Some 
times  when  the  day's  work  was  done  and 
the  sober,  still  twilights  came  on,  this 
reverent  soul,  sitting  with  his  family  gath 
ered  about  him  near  the  threshold  of  his 
single  homeless  room,  — his  oldest  boy 
standing  beside  his  chair,  his  wife  hold 
ing  in  her  lap  the  sleeping  babe  she  had 
just  nursed,  —  would  begin  to  sing.  The 
son's  voice  joined  the  father's ;  the  wife's 
followed  the  son's,  in  their  usual  hymn :  - 


132  The  Reign  of  Law 

"  How  firm  a  foundation,  ye  saints  of  the  Lord, 
Is  laid  for  your  faith  in  His  excellent  word." 

Up  in  his  room,  a  few  hundred  yards 
away,  the  lad  that  moment  might  be  trim 
ming  his  lamp  for  a  little  more  reading. 
More  than  once  he  waited,  listening  in  the 
darkness,  to  the  reliant  music  of  the  stal 
wart,  stern  old  poem.  How  devotedly  he 
too  had  been  used  to  sing  it ! 

That  summer  through,  then,  he  kept  on 
at  the  work  of  trying  to  settle  things  before 
college  reopened  —  things  which  involved 
a  great  duty.  Where  the  new  thought  of 
the  age  attacked  dogma,  Revelation,  Chris 
tianity  most,  there  most  he  read.  He  was 
not  the  only  reader.  He  was  one  of  a 
multitude  which  no  man  could  know  or 
number;  for  many  read  in  secret.  Minis 
ters  of  the  Gospel  read  in  secret  in  their 
libraries,  and  locked  the  books  away  when 
their  church  officers  called  unexpectedly. 
On  Sunday,  mounting  their  pulpits,  they 
preached  impassioned  sermons  concerning 
faith  —  addressed  to  the  doubts,  ravaging 
their  own  convictions  and  consciences* 


The  Reign  of  Law  133 

Elders  and  deacons  read  and  kept  the 
matter  hid  from  their  pastors.  Physicians 
and  lawyers  read  and  spoke  not  a  word  to 
their  wives  and  children.  In  the  church 
from  highest  ecclesiastic  and  layman, 
wherever  in  the  professions  a  religious, 
scientific,  scholarly  mind,  there  was  felt 
the  central  intellectual  commotion  of  those 
vears  —  the  Battle  of  the  Great  Three. 

* 

And  nowr  summer  was  gone,  the  stu 
dents  flocking  in,  the  session  beginning, 
David  reentered  his  classes.  Inwardly  he 
drew  back  from  this  step;  yet  take  any 
other,  throw  up  the  whole  matter,  —  that 
he  could  not  do.  With  all  his  lifelong 
religious  sense  he  held  on  to  the  former 
realities,  even  while  his  grasp  was  loos 


ening. 


But  this  could  not  endure.  University 
life  as  a  Bible  student  and  candidate  for 
the  ministry,  every  day  and  many  times 
every  day,  required  of  him  duties  which 
he  could  not  longer  conscientiously  dis 
charge.  ;  they  forced  from  him  expres 
sions  regarding  his  faith  which  made  it 


134  The  Reign  of  Law 

only  too  plain  both  to  himself  and  to  others 
how  much  out  of  place  he  now  was. 

So  the  crisis  came,  as  come  it  must. 

Autumn  had  given  place  to  winter,  to 
the  first  snows,  thawing  during  the  day, 
freezing  at  night.  The  roofs  of  the  town 
were  partly  brown,  partly  white ;  icicles 
hung  lengthening  from  the  eaves.  It  was 
the  date  on  which  the  university  closed  for 
the  Christmas  holidays  —  Friday  afternoon 
preceding.  All  day  through  the  college 
corridors,  or  along  the  snow-paths  leading 
to  the  town,  there  had  been  the  glad  noises 
of  that  wild  riotous  time  :  whistle  and  song 
and  shout  and  hurrying  feet,  gripping 
hands,  good  wishes,  and  good-bys.  One 
by  one  the  sounds  had  grown  fewer,  fainter, 
and  had  ceased;  the  college  was  left  in 
emptiness  and  silence,  except  in  a  single 
lecture  room  in  one  corner  of  the  building, 
from  the  windows  of  which  you  looked  out 
across  the  town  and  toward  the  west; 
there  the  scene  took  place. 

It  was  at  the  door  of  this  room  that  the 
lad,  having  paused  a  moment  outside  to 


The  Reign  of  Law  1 35 

draw  a  deep,  quivering  breath,  knocked, 
and  being  told  to  come  in,  entered,  closed 
the  door  behind  him,  and  sat  down  white 
and  trembling  in  the  nearest  chair.  About 
the  middle  of  the  room  were  seated  the 
professors  of  the  Bible  College  and  his 
pastor.  They  rose,  and  calling  him  for 
ward  shook  hands  with  him  kindly,  sor 
rowfully,  and  pointed  to  a  seat  before  them, 
resuming  their  own. 

Before  them,  then,  sat  the  lad,  facing  the 
wintry  light ;  and  there  was  a  long  silence, 
Every  one  knew  beforehand  what  the  re 
sult  would  be.  It  was  the  best  part  of  a 
year  since  that  first  interview  in  the  pastor's 
study ;  there  had  been  other  interviews  — 
with  the  pastor,  with  the  professors.  They 
had  done  what  they  could  to  check  him, 
to  bring  him  back.  They  had  long  been 
counsellors ;  now  in  duty  they  were  au 
thorities,  sitting  to  hear  him  finally  to  the 
end,  that  they  might  pronounce  sentence : 
that  would  be  the  severance  of  his  connec 
tion  with  the  university  and  his  expulsion 
from  the  church. 


1 36  The  Reign  of  Law 

Old,  old  scene  in  the  history  of  Man  — 
the  trial  of  his  Doubt  by  his  Faith  :  strange 
day  of  judgment,  when  one  half  of  the 
human  spirit  arraigns  and  condemns  the 
other  half.  Only  five  persons  sat  in  that 
room — four  men  and  a  boy.  The  room 
was  of  four  bare  walls  and  a  blackboard, 
with  perhaps  a  map  or  two  of  Palestine, 
Egypt,  and  the  Roman  Empire  in  the 
time  of  Paul.  The  era  was  the  winter  of 
the  year  1868,  the  place  was  an  old  town 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  backwoodsmen,  on  the 
blue-grass  highlands  of  Kentucky.  But  in 
how  many  other  places  has  that  scene 
been  enacted,  before  what  other  audiences 
of  the  accusing  and  the  accused,  under 
what  laws  of  trial,  with  what  degrees  and 
rigors  of  judgment!  Behind  David,  sitting 
solitary  there  in  the  flesh,  the  imagina 
tion  beheld  a  throng  so  countless  as  to 
have  been  summoned  and  controlled  by  the 
deep  arraigning  eye  of  Dante  alone.  Un 
awares,  he  stood  at  the  head  of  an  invisi 
ble  host,  which  stretched  backward  through 
time  till  it  could  be  traced  no  farther.  Wit- 


The  Reign  of  Law  137 

nesses  all  to  that  sublime,  indispensable 
part  of  man  which  is  his  Doubt  —  Doubt 
respecting  his  origin,  his  meaning,  his 
Maker,  and  his  destiny.  That  perpet 
ual  half-night  of  his  planet-mind  —  that 
shadowed  side  of  his  orbit-life—forever 
attracted  and  held  in  place  by  the  force  of 
Deity,  but  destined  never  to  receive  its 
light.  Yet  from  that  chill,  bleak  side  what 
things  have  not  reached  round  and  caught 
the  sun!  And  as  of  the  earth's  plants, 
some  grow  best  and  are  sweetest  in  dark 
ness,  what  strange  blossoms  of  faith  open 
and  are  fragrant  in  that  eternal  umbra! 
Sacred,  sacred  Doubt  of  Man.  His  agony, 
his  searching !  which  has  led  him  always 
onward  from  more  ignorance  to  less  igno 
rance,  from  less  truth  to  more  truth  ;  which 
is  the  inspiration  of  his  mind,  the  sorrow 
of  his  heart ;  which  has  spoken  everywhere 
in  his  science,  philosophy,  literature,  art  — 
in  his  religion  itself ;  which  keeps  him  hum 
ble  not  vain,  changing  not  immutable, 
charitable  not  bigoted ;  which  attempts  to 
solve  the  universe  and  knows  that  it  does 


1 38  The  Reign  of  Law 

not  solve  it,  but  ever  seeks  to  trace  law,  to 
clarify  reason,  and  so  to  find  whatever  truth 
it  can. 

As  David  sat  before  his  professors  and 
his  pastor,  it  was  one  of  the  moments  that 
sum  up  civilization. 

Across  the  room,  behind  them  also, 
what  a  throng!  Over  on  that  side  was 
Faith,  that  radiant  part  of  the  soul  which 
directly  basks  in  the  light  of  God,  the 
sun.  There,  visible  to  the  eye  of  imagi 
nation,  were  those  of  all  times,  places, 
and  races,  who  have  sat  in  judgment  on 
doubters,  actual  or  suspected.  In  what 
soever  else  differing,  united  in  this:  that 
they  have  always  held  themselves  to  be 
divinely  appointed  agents  of  the  Judge  of 
all  the  earth:  His  creatures  chosen  to 
punish  His  creatures.  And  so  behind 
those  professors,  away  back  in  history, 
were  ranged  Catholic  popes  and  Protes 
tant  archbishops,  and  kings  and  queens, 
Protestant  and  Catholic,  and  great  medi- 
seval  jurists,  and  mailed  knights  and  palm- 
bearing  soldiers  of  the  cross,  and  holy 


The  Reign  of  Law  1 39 

inquisitors  drowning  poor  old  bewildered 
women,  tearing  living  flesh  from  flesh  as 
paper,  crushing  bones  like  glass,  burning 
the  shrieking  human  body  to  cinders : 
this  in  the  name  of  a  Christ  whose  Gospel 
was  mercy,  and  by  the  authority  of  a  God 
whose  law  was  love.  They  were  all  there, 
tier  after  tier,  row  above  row,  a  vast 
shadowy  colosseum  of  intent  judicial  faces 
—  Defenders  of  the  Faith. 

But  no  inquisitor  was  in  this  room 
now,  nor  punitive  intention,  nor  unkind 
thought.  Slowly  throughout  the  emerg 
ing  life  of  man  this  identical  trial  has 
gained  steadily  in  chanty  and  mildness. 
Looking  backward  over  his  long  path 
way  through  bordering  mysteries,  man 
himself  has  been  brought  to  see,  time 
and  again,  that  what  was  his  doubt  was 
his  ignorance ;  what  was  his  faith  was  his 
error;  that  things  rejected  have  become 
believed,  and  that  things  believed  have 
become  rejected ;  that  both  his  doubt  and 
his  faith  are  the  temporary  condition  of 
his  knowledge,  which  is  ever  growing; 


140  The  Reign  of  Law 

and  that  rend  him  faith  and  doubt  ever 
will,  but  destroy  him,  never. 

No  Smithfield  fire,  then,  no  Jesuitical 
rack,  no  cup  of  hemlock,  no  thumb-screw, 
no  torture  of  any  kind  for  David.  Still, 
here  was  a  duty  to  be  done,  an  awful  re 
sponsibility  to  be  discharged  in  sorrow 
and  with  prayer;  and  grave  good  men 
they  were.  Blameless  was  this  lad  in  all 
their  eyes  save  in  his  doubt.  But  to 
doubt — was  not  that  the  greatest  of 
sins  ? 

The  lad  soon  grew  composed.  These 
judges  were  still  his  friends,  not  his  mas 
ters.  His  masters  were  the  writers  of  the 
books  in  which  he  believed,  and  he  spoke 
for  them,  for  what  he  believed  to  be  the 
truth,  so  far  as  man  had  learned  it.  The 
conference  lasted  through  that  short  win 
ter  afternoon.  In  all  that  he  said  the  lad 
showed  that  he  was  full  of  many  confusing 
voices :  the  voices  of  the  new  science,  the 
voices  of  the  new  doubt.  One  voice  only 
had  fallen  silent  in  him :  the  voice  of  the 
old  faith. 


The  Reign  of  Law  141 

It  had  grown  late.  Twilight  was  de 
scending  on  the  white  campus,  on  the 
snow-capped  town.  Away  in  the  west, 
beyond  the  clustered  house-tops,  there  had 
formed  itself  the  solemn  picture  of  a  red 
winter  sunset.  The  light  entered  the 
windows  and  fell  on  the  lad's  face.  One 
last  question  had  just  been  asked  him  by 
the  most  venerable  and  beloved  of  his  pro 
fessors  —  in  tones  awe-stricken,  and  tremu 
lous  with  his  own  humility,  and  with  com 
passion  for  the  erring  boy  before  him,  — 
"  Do  you  not  even  believe  in  God  ?  " 
Ah,  that  question !  which  shuts  the 
gates  of  consciousness  upon  us  when  we 
enter  sleep,  and  sits  close  outside  our  eye 
lids  as  we  waken ;  which  was  framed  in  us 
ere  we  were  born,  which  comes  fullest  to 
life  in  us  as  life  itself  ebbs  fastest.  That 
question  which  exacts  of  the  finite  to  affirm 
whether  it  apprehends  the  Infinite,  that 
prodding  of  the  evening  midge  for  its 
opinion  of  the  polar  star. 

"  Do  you  not  even  believe  in  God  ? " 
The  lad  stood   up,  he  whose  life  until 


142  The  Reign  of  Law 

these  months  had  been  a  prayer,  whose 
very  slumbers  had  been  worship.  He 
stood  up,  from  some  impulse  —  perhaps 
the  respectful  habit  of  rising  when  ad 
dressed  in  class  by  this  professor.  At 
first  he  made  no  reply,  but  remained  look 
ing  over  the  still  heads  of  his  elders  into 
that  low  red  sunset  sky.  How  often  had 
he  beheld  it,  when  feeding  the  stock  at 
frozen  twilights.  One  vision  rose  before 
him  now  of  his  boyhood  life  at  home  — 
his  hopes  of  the  ministry  —  the  hemp 
fields  where  he  had  toiled  —  his  father  and 
mother  waiting  before  the  embers  this 
moment,  mindful  of  him.  He  recalled  how 
often,  in  the  last  year,  he  had  sat  upon  his 
bedside  at  midnight  when  all  were  asleep, 
asking  himself  that  question :  — 

"  Do  I  believe  in  God  ?  " 

And  now  he  was  required  to  lay  bare 
what  his  young  soul  had  been  able  to  do 
with  that  eternal  mystery. 

He  thrust  his  big  coarse  hand  into  his 
breast-pocket  and  drew  out  a  little  red 
morocco  Testament  which  had  been  given 


The  Reign  of  Law  143 

him  when  he  was  received  into  the  con 
gregati.on.  He  opened  it  at  a  place  where 
it  seemed  used  to  lie  apart.  He  held 
it  before  his  face,  but  could  not  read. 
At  last,  controlling  himself,  he  said  to 
them  with  dignity,  and  with  the  common 
honesty  which  was  the  life  of  him :  — 

"  I  read  you  a  line  which  is  the  best 
answer  I  can  give  just  now  to  your  last 
question." 

And  so  he  read:  — 

"  Lord,  I  believe ;  help  Thou  my  un 
belief!  " 

A  few  moments  later  he  turned  to  an 
other  page  and  said  to  them  :  — • 

"  These  lines  also  I  desire  to  read  to 
you  who  believe  in  Christ  and  believe  that 
Christ  and  God  are  one.  I  may  not  under 
stand  them,  but  I  have  thought  of  them  a 
great  deal :  — 

"  '  And  if  any  man  hear  my  words  and 
believe  not,  I  jiidge  him  not:  for  I  came  not 
to  judge  the  world  but  to  save  the  world. 

"  *  He  that  rejecleth  me  and  receiveth  not 
my  words)  hath  one  that  judgeth  him :  the 


144  The  Reign  of  Law 

word  that  I  have  spoken,  the  same  shall 
jiidge  him  in  the  last  day' r 

He  shut  his  Testament  and  put  it  back 
Into  his  pocket  and  looked  at  his  judges. 

"  I  understand  this  declaration  of  Christ 
to  mean,"  he  said,  "  that  whether  I  believe 
in  Him  or  do  not  believe  in  Him,  I  am  not 
to  be  judged  till  God's  Day  of  Judgment." 

IX 

A  FEW  days  later  David  was  walking 
across  the  fields  on  his  way  home :  it  was 
past  the  middle  of  the  afternoon. 

At  early  candle-light  that  morning,  the 
huge  red  stage-coach,  leaving  town  for  his 
distant  part  of  the  country,  had  rolled, 
creaking  and  rattling,  to  the  dormitory  en 
trance,  the  same  stage  that  had  conveyed 
him  thither.  Throwing  up  his  window  he 
had  looked  out  at  the  curling  white  breath 
of  the  horses  and  at  the  driver,  who,  buried 
in  coats  and  rugs,  and  holding  the  lash  of 
his  whip  in  his  mittened  fist,  peered  up 
and  called  out  with  no  uncertain  temper. 


The  Reign  of  Law  145 

The  lad  was  ready.  He  hastily  carried 
down  the  family  umbrella  and  the  Brussels 
carpet  valise  with  its  copious  pink  roses, 
looking  strangely  out  of  season  amid  all 
that  hoar  frost.  Then  he  leaped  back  up 
stairs  for  something  which  had  been  added 
to  his  worldly  goods  since  he  entered  col 
lege —  a  small,  cheap  trunk,  containing  a 
few  garments  and  the  priceless  books. 
These  things  the  driver  stored  in  the  boot 
of  the  stage,  bespattered  with  mud  now 
frozen.  Then,  running  back  once  more, 
the  lad  seized  his  coat  and  hat,  cast  one 
troubled  glance  around  the  meaningless 
room  which  had  been  the  theatre  of  such 
a  drama  in  his  life,  went  over  to  the  little 
table,  and  blew  out  his  Bible  Student's 
lamp  forever;  and  hurrying  clown  with  a 
cordial  "  all  ready,"  climbed  to  the  seat 
beside  the  driver  and  was  whirled  away. 

He  turned  as  he  passed  from  the  campus 
to  take  a  last  look  at  Morrison  College, 
standing  back  there  on  the  hill,  venerable, 
majestical,  tight-closed,  its  fires  put  out 
As  he  crossed  the  city  (for  there  were  pas- 


146  The  Reign  of  Law 

sengers  to  be  picked  up  and  the  mail-bag 
to  be  gotten),  he  took  unspoken  leave  of 
many  other  places :  of  the  bookstore  where 
he  had  bought  the  masterpieces  of  his 
masters ;  of  the  little  Italian  apple-man  — 
who  would  never  again  have  so  simple  a 
customer  for  his  slightly  damaged  fruit; 
of  several  tall,  proud,  well-frosted  church 
spires  now  turning  rosy  in  the  sunrise; 
of  a  big,  handsome  house  standing  in  a 
fashionable  street,  with  black  coal  smoke 
pouring  out  of  the  chimneys.  There  the 
friends  of  his  boyhood  "boarded";  there 
they  were  now,  asleep  in  luxurious  beds, 
or  gone  away  for  the  holidays,  he  knew 
not  which :  all  he  did  know  was  that  they 
were  gone  far  away  from  him  along  life's 
other  pathways. 

Soon  the  shops  on  each  side  were  suc 
ceeded  by  homesteads ;  gradually  these 
stood  farther  apart  as  farm-houses  set  back 
from  the  highroad ;  the  street  had  become 
a  turnpike,  they  were  in  open  country  and 
the  lad  was  on  his  way  to  his  father  and 
mother. 


The  Reign  of  Law  147 

In  the  afternoon,  at  one  of  the  stops  for 
watering  horses,  he  had  his  traps  and 
trappings  put  out.  From  this  place  a  mud 
road  wound  across  the  country  to  his 
neighborhood ;  and  at  a  point  some  two 
miles  distant,  a  pair  of  bars  tapped  it  as 
an  outlet  and  inlet  for  the  travel  on  his 
father's  land. 

Leaving  his  things  at  the  roadside  farm 
house  with  the  promise  that  he  would 
return  for  them,  the  lad  struck  out  —  not 
by  the  lane,  but  straight  across  country. 

It  was  a  mild  winter  day  without  wind, 
without  character  —  one  of  the  days  on 
which  Nature  seems  to  take  no  interest 
in  herself  and  creates  no  interest  in  others. 
The  sky  was  overcrowded  with  low,  ragged 
clouds,  without  discernible  order  or  direc 
tion.  Nowhere  a  yellow  sunbeam  glinting 
on  any*  object,  but  vast  jets  of  misty  radi 
ance  shot  downward  in  far-diverging  lines 
toward  the  world:  as  though  above  the 
clouds  were  piled  the  waters  of  light  and 
this  were  scant  escaping  spray. 

He  walked  on,  climbing  the  fences,  com- 


148  The  Reign  of  Law 

ing  on  the  familiar  sights  of  winter  woods 
and  fields.  Having  been  away  from  them 
for  the  first  time  and  that  during  more 
than  a  year,  with  what  feelings  he  now  be 
held  them  ! 

Crows  about  the  corn  shocks,  flying 
leisurely  to  the  stake-and-ridered  fence : 
there  alighting  with  their  tails  pointing 
toward  him  and  their  heads  turned  side 
ways  over  one  shoulder;  but  soon  pre 
senting  their  breasts  seeing  he  did  not 
hunt.  The  solitary  caw  of  one  of  them 
—  that  thin,  indifferent  comment  of  their 
sentinel,  perched  on  the  silver-gray  twig 
of  a  sycamore.  In  another  field  the  startled 
flutter  of  field  larks  from  pale-yellow  bushes 
of  ground-apple.  Some  boys  out  rabbit- 
hunting  in  the  holidays,  with  red  cheeks 
and  gay  woollen  comforters  around  their 
hot  necks  and  jeans  jackets  full  of  Spanish 
needles:  one  shouldering  a  gun,  one  car 
rying  a  game-bag,  one  eating  an  apple :  a 
pack  of  dogs  and  no  rabbit.  The  winter 
brooks,  trickling  through  banks  of  frozen 
grass  and  broken  reeds ;  their  clear  brown 


The  Reign  of  Law  149 

water  sometimes  open,  sometimes  covered 
with  figured  ice. 

Red  cattle  in  one  distant  wood,  moving 
tender-footed  around  the  edge  of  a  pond. 
The  fall  of  a  forest  tree  sounding  distinct 
amid  the  reigning  stillness — felled  for  cord 
wood.  And  in  one  field  —  right  there  be 
fore  him  !  —  the  chopping  sound  of  busy 
hemp  brakes  and  the  sight  of  negroes,  one 
singing  a  hymn.  Oh,  the  memories,  the 
memories! 

By  and  by  he  reached  the  edge  of  his 
father's  land,  climbed  to  the  topmost  rail 
of  the  boundary  fence  and  sat  there,  his 
eyes  glued  to  the  whole  scene.  It  lay  out 
spread  before  him,  the  entirety  of  that 
farm.  He  had  never  realized  before  how 
little  there  was  of  it,  how  little !  He 
could  see  all  around  it,  except  where  the 
woods  hid  the  division  fence  on  one  side. 
And  the  house,  standing  in  the  still  air 
of  the  winter  afternoon,  with  its  rotting 
roof  and  low  red  chimneys  partly  ob 
scured  by  scraggy  cedars  —  how  small  it 
had  become  !  How  poor,  how  wretched 


150  The  Reign  of  Law 

everything  —  the  woodpile,  the  cabin,  the 
hen-house,  the  ice-house,  the  barn !  Was 
this  any  part  of  the  great  world  ?  It  was 
one  picture  of  desolation,  the  creeping 
paralysis  of  a  house  and  farm.  Did  any 
thing  even  move  ? 

Something  did  move.  A  column  of 
blue  smoke  moved  straight  and  thin  from 
the  chimney  of  his  father's  and  mother's 
room.  In  a  far  corner  of  the  stable  lot, 
pawing  and  nozzling  some  remnants  of 
fodder,  were  the  old  horses.  By  the  hay 
rick  he  discovered  one  of  the  sheep,  the 
rest  being  on  the  farther  side.  The  cows 
by  and  by  filed  slowly  around  from  behind 
the  barn  and  entered  the  doorless  milking 
stalls.  Suddenly  his  dog  emerged  from 
one  of  those  stalls,  trotting  cautiously, 
then  with  a  playful  burst  of  speed  went  in 
a  streak  across  the  lot  toward  the  kitchen. 
A  negro  man  issued  from  the  cabin,  picked 
out  a  log,  knocked  the  ashes  out  of  his 
pipe  in  the  palm  of  his  hand,  and  began 
to  cut  the  firewood  for  the  night. 

All  this  did  not  occur  at  once :  he  had 


The  Reign  of  Law  151 

been  sitting  there  a  long  time  —  heart 
sick  with  the  thought  of  the  tragedy  he 
was  bringing  home.  How  could  he  ever 
meet  them,  ever  tell  them  ?  How  would 
they  ever  understand?  If  he  could  only 
say  to  his  father :  "  I  have  sinned  and  I 
have  broken  your  heart:  but  forgive  me." 
But  he  could  not  say  this :  he  did  not 
believe  that  he  had  done  wrong.  Yet  all 
that  he  would  now  have  to  show  in  their 
eyes  would  be  the  year  of  his  wasted  life, 
and  a  trunk  full  of  the  books  that  had 
ruined  him. 

Ah,  those  two  years  before  he  had 
started  to  college,  during  which  they  had 
lived  happily  together!  Their  pride  in 
him  !  their  self-denial,  affection  —  all  be 
cause  he  was  to  be  a  scholar  and  a  min 
ister  ! 

He  fancied  he  could  see  them  as  they 
sat  in  the  house  this  moment,  not  dream 
ing  he  was  anywhere  near.  One  on  each 
side  of  the  fireplace  ;  his  mother  wearing 
her  black  dress  and  purple  shawl:  a  ball 
of  yarn  and  perhaps  a  tea-cake  in  her 


152  The  Reign  of  Law 

lap ;  some  knitting  on  her  needles ;  she 
knit,  she  never  mended.  But  his  father 
would  be  mending  —  leather  perhaps,  and 
sewing,  as  he  liked  to  sew,  with  hog 
bristles  —  the  beeswax  and  the  awls  lying 
in  the  bottom  of  a  chair  drawn  to  his  side. 
There  would  be  no  noises  in  the  room 
otherwise:  he  could  hear  the  stewing  of 
the  sap  in  the  end  of  a  fagot,  the  ticking 
of  one  clock,  the  fainter  ticking  of  another 
in  the  adjoining  room,  like  a  disordered 
echo.  They  would  not  be  talking;  they 
would  be  thinking  of  him.  He  shut  his 
eyes,  compressed  his  lips,  shook  his  head 
resolutely,  and  leaped  down. 

He  had  gone  about  twenty  yards,  when 
he  heard  a  quick,  incredulous  bark  down 
by  the  house  and  his  dog  appeared  in  full 
view,  looking  up  that  way,  motionless. 
Then  he  came  on  running  and  barking 
resentfully,  and  a  short  distance  off  stopped 
again." 

"  Captain,"  he  called  with  a  quivering 
voice. 

With  ears  laid  back  and  one  cry  of  joy 


The  Reign  of  Law  153 

the  dog  was  on  him.  The  lad  stooped 
and  drew  him  close.  Neither  at  that 
moment  had  any  articulate  speech  nor 
needed  it.  As  soon  as  he  was  released, 
the  dog,  after  several  leaps  toward  his 
face,  was  off  in  despair  either  of  expressing 
or  of  containing  his  joy,  to  tell  the  news  at 
the  house.  David  laggingly  followed. 

As  he  stepped  upon  the  porch,  piled 
against  the  wall  beside  the  door  were  fag 
ots  as  he  used  to  see  them.  When  he 
reached  the  door  itself,  he  stopped,  gazing 
foolishly  at  those  fagots,  at  the  little  gray 
lichens  on  them:  he  could  not  knock,  he 
could  not  turn  the  knob  without  knock 
ing.  But  his  step  had  been  heard.  His 
mother  opened  the  door  and  peered  curi 
ously  out. 

"  Why,  it's  Davy ! ''  she  cried.  "  Davy ! 
Davy ! " 

She  dropped  her  knitting  and  threw  her 
arms  around  him. 

"  David  !  David !  "  exclaimed  his  father, 
with  a  glad  proud  voice  inside.  "  Why, 
my  son,  my  son !  " 


154  The  Reign  of  Law 

"  Ah,  he 's  sick  —  he 's  come  home 
sick ! "  cried  the  mother,  holding  him  a 
little  way  off  to  look  at  his  face.  "  Ah ! 
the  poor  fellow's  sick !  Come  in,  come 
in.  And  this  is  why  we  had  no  letter! 
And  to  think  yesterday  was  Christmas 
Day !  And  we  had  the  pies  and  the 
turkey ! " 

"  My  son,  are  you  unwell  —  have  you 
been  unwell?  Sit  here,  lie  here." 

The  lad's  face  was  overspread  with  ghastly 
pallor ;  he  had  lost  control  of  himself. 

"  I  have  not  been  sick.  I  am  perfectly 
well,"  he  said  at  length,  looking  from  one 
to  the  other  with  forlorn,  remorseful  affec 
tion.  They  had  drawn  a  chair  close,  one 
on  each  side  of  him.  "  How  are  you, 
mother?  How  are  you,  father?" 

The  change  in  him!  —  that  was  all  they 
saw.  As  soon  as  he  spoke,  they  knew  he 
was  in  good  health.  Then  the  trouble 
was  something  else,  more  terrible.  The 
mother  took  refuge  in  silence  as  a  woman 
instinctively  does  at  such  times ;  the  father 
sought  relief  in  speech. 


The  Reign  of  Law  155 

"  What  is  the  matter  ?    What  happened  ? " 

After  a  moment  of  horrible  silence, 
David  spoke:  — 

"  Ah,  father!  How  can  I  ever  tell  you  ! " 

"  How  can  you  ever  tell  me  ? " 

The  rising  anger  mingled  with  distrust 
and  fear  in  those  words !  How  many  a 
father  knows ! 

"  Oh,  what  is  it ! "  cried  his  mother, 
wringing  her  hands,  and  bursting  into 
tears.  She  rose  and  went  to  her  seat 
under  the  mantelpiece. 

"  What  have  you  done  ?  "  said  his  father, 
also  rising  and  going  back  to  his  seat. 

There  was  a  new  sternness  in  his  voice  ; 
but  the  look  which  returned  suddenly  to 
his  eyes  was  the  old  life-long  look. 

The  lad  sat  watching  his  father,  dazed 
by  the  tragedy  he  was  facing. 

"  It  is  my  duty  to  tell  you  as  soon  as  pos 
sible  —  I  suppose  I  ought  to  tell  you  now." 

"  Then  speak  —  why  do  you  sit  there  — " 

The  words  choked  him. 

"Oh!  oh!  —  " 

"  Mother,  don't !  —  " 


156  The  Reign  of  Law 

"What  is  it?" 

"  Father,  1  have  been  put  out  of  college 
and  expelled  from  the  church." 

How  loud  sounded  the  minute  noises 
of  the  fire  —  the  clocks  —  the  blows  of  an 
axe  at  the  woodpile  —  the  lowing  of  a  cow 
at  the  barn. 

"For  what?" 

The  question  was  put  at  length  in  a 
voice  flat  and  dead.  It  summed  up  a  life 
time  of  failure  and  admitted  it.  After 
an  interval  it  was  put  again :  — 

" For  what?" 

"  I  do  not  believe  the  Bible  any  longer,, 
I  do  not  believe  in  Christianity." 

"  Oh,  don't  do  that !  " 

The  cry  proceeded  from  David's  mother, 
who  crossed  quickly  arid  sat  beside  her 
husband,  holding  his  hand,  perhaps  not 
knowing  her  own  motive. 

This,  then,  was  the  end  of  hope  and 
pride,  the  reward  of  years  of  self-denial,  the 
insult  to  all  this  poverty.  'For  the  time, 
even  the  awful  nature  of  his  avowal  made 
no  impression. 


The  Reign  of  Law  157 

After  a  long  silence,  the  father  asked 
feebly :  — 

"  Why  have  you  come  back  here?" 

Suddenly  he  rose,  and  striding  across 
to  his  son,  struck  him  one  blow  with  his 
mind :  — 

"  Oh^  I  always  knew  there  was  nothing 
in  you  !  " 

It  was  a  kick  of  the  foot. 


X 

MORE  than  two  months  had  passed. 
Twilight  of  closing  February  was  falling 
over  the  frozen  fields.  The  last  crow  had 
flapped  low  and  straight  toward  the  black 
wood  beyond  the  southern  horizon.  No 
sunset  radiance  streamed  across  the  wide 
land,  for  all  day  a  solitude  of  cloud  had 
stretched  around  the  earth,  bringing  on 
the  darkness  now  before  its  time. 

In  a  small  hemp  field  on  an  edge  of 
the  vast  Kentucky  table-land,  a  solitary 
breaker  kept  on  at  his  work  The  splin 
tered  shards  were  piled  high  against  his 


158  The  Reign  of  Law 

brake :  he  had  not  paused  to  clear  them 
out  of  his  way  except  around  his  bootlegs , 
Near  by,  the  remnant  of  the  shock  had 
fallen  over,  clods  of  mingled  frost  and 
soil  still  sticking  to  the  level  butt-endsn 
Several  yards  to  windward,  where  the  dusi 
and  refuse  might  not  settle  on  it.  lay  the 
pile  of  gray- tailed  hemp,  —  the  coarsest  of 
man's  work,  but  finished  as  conscientiously 
as  an  art.  From  the  warming  depths  of 
this,  rose  the  head  and  neck  of  a  common 
shepherd  dog,  his  face  turned  uneasily  but 
patiently  toward  the  worker.  Whatever 
that  master  should  do,  whether  understood 
or  not,  was  right  to  him ;  he  did  not  ask 
to  understand,  but  to  love  and  to  serve. 
Farther  away  in  another  direction  leaned 
the  charred  rind  of  a  rotting  stump.  At 
intervals  the  rising  wind  blew  the  ashes 
away,  exposing  live  coals  —  that  fireside 
of  the  laborer,  wandering  with  him  from 
spot  to  spot  over  the  bitter  lonely  spaces. 

The  hemp  breaker  had  just  gone  to  the 
shock  and  torn  away  another  armful, 
dragging  the  rest  down.  Exhausting  to 


The  Reign  of  Law  159 

the  picked  and  powerful,  the  work  seemed 
easy  to  him ;  for  he  was  a  young  man  of 
the  greatest  size  and  strength,  moulded 
in  the  proportions  which  Nature  often 
chooses  for  her  children  of  the  soil  among 
that  people.  Striding  rapidly  back  to  his 
brake,  the  clumsy  five-slatted  device  of  the 
pioneer  Kentuckians,  he  raised  the  handle 
and  threw  the  armful  of  stalks  crosswise 
between  the  upper  and  the  lower  blades. 
Then  swinging  the  handle  high,  with 
his  body  wrenched  violently  forward  and 
the  strength  of  his  good  right  arm  put 
forth,  he  brought  it  down.  The  crash. 
crash,  crash  could  have  been  heard  far 
through  the  still  air;  for  it  is  the  office 
of  those  dull  blades  to  hack  their  way 
as  through  a  bundle  of  dead  rods. 

A  little  later  he  stopped  abruptly,  with 
silent  inquiry  turning  his  face  to  the  sky: 
a  raindrop  had  fallen  on  his  hand.  Two 
or  three  drops  struck  his  face  as  he  waitedo 
It  had  been  very  cold  that  morning,  too 
cold  for  him  to  come  out  to  work.  Though 
by  noon  it  had  moderated,  it  was  cold  still , 


160  The  Reign  of  Law 

but  out  of  the  warmer  currents  of  the  upper 
atmosphere,  which  was  now  the  noiseless 
theatre  of  great  changes  going  forward 
unshared  as  yet  by  the  strata  below,  sank 
these  icy  globules  of  the  winter  rain. 
Their  usual  law  is  to  freeze  during  descent 
into  the  crystals  of  snow ;  rarely  they 
harden  after  they  fall,  covering  the  earth 
with  sleet. 

David,  by  a  few  quick  circular  motions 
of  the  wrist,  freed  his  left  hand  from  the 
half-broken  hemp,  leaving  the  bundle  trail 
ing  across  the  brake.  Then  he  hurried  to 
the  heap  of  well-cleaned  fibre:  that  must 
not  be  allowed  to  get  wet.  The  dog 
leaped  out  and  stood  to  one  side,  welcom 
ing  the  end  of  the  afternoon  labor  and  the 
idea  of  returning  home.  Not  many  min 
utes  were  required  for  the  hasty  baling, 
and  David  soon  rested  a  moment  beside 
his  hemp,  ready  to  lift  it  to  his  shoulders. 
But  he  felt  disappointed.  There  lay  the 
remnant  of  the  shock.  He  had  worked 
hard  to  finish  it  before  sunset.  Would 
there  not  still  be  time  ? 


The  Reign  of  Law  161 

The  field  occupied  one  of  the  swelling 
knolls  of  the  landscape ;  his  brake  was  set 
this  day  on  the  very  crown  of  a  hill.  As 
he  asked  himself  that  question,  he  lifted 
his  eyes  and  far  away  through  the  twilight, 
lower  down,  he  saw  the  flash  of  a  candle 
already  being  carried  about  in  the  kitchen. 
At  the  opposite  end  of  the  house  the  glow 
of  firelight  fell  on  the  window  panes  of  his 
father's  and  mother's  room.  Even  while 
he  observed  this,  it  was  intercepted:  his 
mother  thus  early  was  closing  the  shutters 
for  the  night. 

Too  late  !  He  gave  up  the  thought  of 
finishing  his  shock,  recollecting  other 
duties.  But  he  remained  in  his  attitude 
a  few  moments;  for  the  workman  has  a 
curious  unconscious  habit  of  taking  a  final 
survey  of  the  scene  of  his  labor  before 
quitting  it  David  now  glanced  first  up 
at  the  sky,  with  dubious  forethought  of 
to-morrow's  weather.  The  raindrops  had 
ceased  to  fall,  but  he  was  too  good  a 
countryman  not  to  foresee  unsettled  con 
ditions.  The  dog  standing  before  him 


1 62  The  Reign  of  Law 

and  watching  his  face,  uttered  an  uneasy 
whine  as  he  noted  that  question  addressed 
to  the  clouds  :  at  intervals  during  the 
afternoon  he  had  been  asking  his  question 
also.  Then  those  live  coals  in  the  rind  of 
the  stump  and  the  danger  of  sparks  blown 
to  the  hemp  herds  or  brake,  or  fence  farther 
away:  David  walked  over  and  stamped 
them  out.  As  he  returned,  he  fondled 
the  dog's  head  in  his  big,  roughened 
hand. 

"  Captain,"  he  said,  "are  you  hungry? 

All  at  once  he  was  attracted  by  a  spec 
tacle  and  forgot  everything  else.  For  as 
he  stood  there  beside  his  bale  of  hemp  in 
the  dead  fields,  his  throat  and  eyes  filled 
with  dust,  the  dust  all  over  him,  low  on 
the  dark  red  horizon  there  had  formed 
itself  the  solemn  picture  of  a  winter  sun 
set.  Amid  the  gathering  darkness  the 
workman  remained  gazing  toward  that 
great  light  —  into  the  stillness  of  it  — - 
the  loneliness* — the  eternal  peace.  On 
his  rugged  face  an  answering  light  was 
kindled,  the  glory  of  a  spiritual  passion 


The  Reign  of  Law  163 

the  flame  of  immortal  things  alive  in  his 
soul.  More  akin  to  him  seemed  that 
beacon  fire  of  the  sky  —  more  nearly  his 
real  pathway  home  appeared  that  distant 
road  and  gateway  to  the  Infinite  —  than 
the  flickering,  near  house-taper  in  the 
valley  below.  Once  before,  on  the  most 
memorable  day  of  his  life,  David  had  be 
held  a  winter  sunset  like  that;  but  then 
across  the  roofs  of  a  town  —  roofs  halx 
white,  half  brown  with  melting  snow,  and 
with  lengthening  icicles  dripping  in  the 
twilight. 

Suddenly,  as  if  to  shut  out  troublec 
thoughts,  he  stooped  and,  throwing  his 
big,  long  arms  about  the  hemp,  lifted 
it  to  his  shoulder,  "  Comet  Captain,"  he 
called  to  his  companion,  and  stalked 
heavily  away.  As  he  went,  he  began  to 
hum  an  ancient  sturdy  hymn :  — 

"  How  firm  a  foundation,  ye  saints  of  the  Lord, 
Is  laid  for  your  faith  in  His  excellent  Word. 
**#**>*** 
The  flame  shall  not  hurt  thee ;  I  only  design 
Thy  dross  to  consume  and  thy  gold  to  refine 


164  The  Reign  of  Law 

J'  He  had  once  been  used  to  iove  those 
words  and  to  feel  the  rocklike  basis 
of  them,  as  fixed  unshakably  beneath  the 
rolling  sea  of  the  music ;  now  he  sang  the 
melody  only.  A  little  later*  as  though 
he  had  no  right  to  indulge  himself  even 

_m  this,  it  died  on  the  air;  and  only  the 
noise  of  his  thick,  stiffened  boots  could 
have  been  heard  crushing  the  frozen  stub 
ble,  as  he  went  staggering  under  his  load 
toward  the  barn. 


XI 

WHEN  he  reached  the  worm  fence  of 
the  hemp  field,  he  threw  his  load  from 
his  shoulder  upon  the  topmost  rail,  and5 
holding  it  there  with  one  hand,  climbed 
over.  He  had  now  to  cross  the  stable 
lot  Midway  of  this,  he  passed  a  rick  of 
hay.  Huddled  under  the  sheltered  side 
were  the  sheep  of  the  farm,  several  in 
number  and  of  the  common  sort.  At 
the  sight  of  him,  they  always  bleated 
familiarly^  but  this  evening  their  long, 


The  Reign  of  Law  165 

quavering,  gray  notes  were  more  pene 
trating,  more  insistent  than  usual.  These 
sensitive,  gentle  creatures,  whose  instincts 
represent  the  accumulating  and  inherited 
experiences  of  age  upon  age  of  direct 
contact  with  nature,  run  far  ahead  of  u* 
in  our  forecasting  wisdom ;  and  many  a 
time  they  utter  their  disquietude  and 
warning  in  language  that  is  understood 
only  by  themselves.  The  scant  flock  now 
fell  into  the  wake  of  David,  their  voices 
blending  in  a  chorus  of  meek  elegiacs, 
their  fore  feet  crowding  close  upon  his 
heels.  The  dog,  yielding  his  place,  fell 
into  their  wake,  as  though  covering  the 
rear;  and  so  this  little  procession  of 
friends  moved  in  a  close  body  toward 
the.  barn, 

David  put  his  hemp  in  the  saddle 
house;  a  separate  hemp-house  they  were 
not  rich  enough  to  own.  He  had  chosen 
this  particular  part  of  the  barn  because 
it  was  dryest  in  roof  and  floor.  Several 
bales  of  hemp  were  already  piled  against 
the  logs  on  one  side;  and  besides  these. 


1 66  The  Reign  of  Law 

the  room  contained  the  harness,  the  cart 
and  the  wagon  gear,  the  box  of  tar,  his 
maul  and  wedges,  his  saddle  and  bridle, 
and  sundry  implements  used  in  the  gar 
den  or  on  the  farm.  It  was  almost  dark 
in  there  now,  and  he  groped  his  way. 

The  small  estate  of  his  father,  com 
prising  only  some  fifty  or  sixty  acres,  sup 
ported  little  live  stock:  the  sheep  just- 
mentioned,  a  few  horses,  several  head  of 
cattle,  a  sow  and  pigs.  Every  soul  of 
these  inside  or  outside  the  barn  that 
evening  had  been  waiting  for  David. 
They  had  begun  to  think  of  him  and 
call  for  him  long  before  he  had  quit  work 
in  the  field.  Now,  although  it  was  not 
much  later  than  usual,  the  heavy  cloud 
made  it  appear  so ;  and  all  these  crea 
tures,  like  ourselves,  are  deceived  by 
appearances  and  suffer  greatly  from  imagi 
nation.  They  now  believed  that  it  was 
far  past  the  customary  time  for  him  to 
appear,  that  they  were  nearing  the  verge 
of  starvation ;  and  so  they  were  bewail 
ing  in  a  dejected  way  his  unaccountable 


The  Reign  of  Law  167 

absence  and  their  miserable  lot  —  with  no 
one  to  listen. 

Scarcely  had  the  rattling  of  the  iron 
latch  of  the  saddle-house  apprised  them 
of  his  arrival  before  every  dumb  brute  — 
dumb,  as  dumb  men  say  —  experienced  a 
cheerful  change  of  mind,  and  began  to 
pour  into  his  ears  the  eager,  earnest,  grati 
fying  tale  of  its  rights  and  its  wrongs. 
What  honest  voices  as  compared  with 
the  human  —  sometimes.  No  question  of 
sincerity  could  have  been  raised  by  any 
one  who  heard  them  speak.  It  may  not 
have  been  music ;  but  every  note  of  it  was 
God's  truth. 

The  man  laughed  heartily  as  he  paused 
a  moment  and  listened  to  that  rejoicing 
uproar.  But  he  was  touched,  also.  To 
them  he  was  the  answerer  of  prayer.  Not 
one  believed  that  he  ever  refused  to  succor 
in  time  of  need,  or  turned  a  deaf  ear  to 
supplication.  If  he  made  poor  provision 
for  them  sometimes,  though  they  might 
not  feel  satisfied,  they  never  turned  against 
him.  The  barn  was  very  old.  The  chemi- 


1 68  The  Reign  of  Law 

cal  action  of  the  elements  had  first  rotted 
away  the  shingles  at  the  points  where  the 
nails  pinned  them  to  the  roof;  and,  thus 
loosened,  the  winds  of  many  years  had 
dislodged  and  scattered  them.  Through 
these  holes,  rain  could  penetrate  to  the 
stalls  of  the  horses,  so  that  often  they 
would  get  up  mired  and  stiff  and  shiver 
ing  ;  but  they  never  reproached  him.  On 
the  northern  side  of  the  barn  the  weather- 
boarding  was  quite  gone  in  places,  and  the 
wind  blew  freely  in.  Of  winter  mornings 
the  backs  of  the  cows  would  sometimes  be 
flecked  with  snow,  or  this  being  stub 
bornly  melted  by  their  own  heat,  their 
hides  would  be  hung  with  dew-drops: 
they  never  attributed  that  fact  to  him  as 
a  cruelty.  In  the  whole  stable  there  was 
not  one  critic  of  his  providence :  all  were 
of  the  household  of  faith :  the  members 
being  in  good  standing  and  full  fellowship. 
Remembrance  of  this  lay  much  in  his 
mind  whenever,  as  often,  he  contrasted 
his  association  with  his  poor  animals,  and 
the  troublous  problem  of  faith  in  his  own 


The  Reign  of  Law  169 

soul.  It  weighed  with  especial  heaviness 
upon  his  heart,  this  nightfall  in  the  barn, 
over  which  hung  that  threatening  sky. 
Do  what  he  could  for  their  comfort,  it 
must  be  insufficient  in  a  rotting,  wind 
swept  shelter  like  that,  And  here  came 
the  pinch  of  conscience,  the  wrench  of  re 
morse  :  the  small  sums  of  money  which  his 
father  and  mother  had  saved  up  at  such  a 
sacrifice  on  the  farm,  —  the  money  which 
he  had  spent  lavishly  on  himself  in  prepa 
ration,  as  he  had  supposed,  for  his  high 
calling  in  life,  —  if  but  a  small  part  of  that 
had  been  applied  to  the  roof  and  weather- 
boarding  of  the  stable,  the  stock  this  night 
might  have  been  housed  in  warmth  and 
safety. 

The  feeding  and  bedding  attended  to, 
with  a  basket  of  cobs  in  his  hand  for  his 
mother,  he  hurried  away  to  the  woodpile. 
This  was  in  the  yard  near  the  negro 
cabin  and  a  hundred  yards  or  more  from 
the  house,  There  he  began  to  cut  and 
split  the  wood  for  the  fires  that  night  and 
for  next  morning.  Three  lengths  of  this : 


170  The  Reign  of  Law 

first,  for  the  grate  in  his  father's  and 
mother's  room  —  the  best  to  be  found 
among  the  logs  of  the  woodpile :  good 
dry  hickory  for  its  ready  blaze  and  rousing 
heat ;  to  be  mixed  with  seasoned  oak,  lest 
it  burn  out  too  quickly  —  an  expensive 
wood ;  and  perhaps  also  with  some  white 
ash  from  a  tree  he  had  felled  in  the 
autumn.  Then  sundry  back-logs  and 
knots  of  black  walnut  for  the  cabin  of 
the  two  negro  women  (there  being  no 
sense  of  the  value  of  this  wood  in  the 
land  in  those  days,  nearly  all  of  it  going 
to  the  cabins,  to  the  kitchens,  to  cord- 
wood,  or  to  the  fences  of  the  farm ;  while 
the  stumps  were  often  grubbed  up  and 
burned  on  the  spot).  Then  fuel  of  this 
same  sort  for  the  kitchen  stove.  Next, 
two  or  three  big  armfuls  of  very  short 
sticks  for  the  small  grate  in  his  own  small 
room  above  stairs  —  a  little  more  than 
usual,  with  the  idea  that  he  might  wish 
to  sit  up  late. 

There  was  scarce  light  enough  to  go  by. 
He  picked  his  logs  from  the  general  pile 


The  Reign  of  Law  171 

by  the  feel  of  the  bark;  and  having  set 
his  foot  on  each,  to  hold  it  in  place  while 
he  chopped,  he  struck  rather  by  habit  than 
by  sight.  Loud  and  rapid  the  strokes  re 
sounded  ;  for  he  went  at  it  with  a  youthful 
will,  and  with  hunger  gnawing  him ;  and 
though  his  arms  were  stiff  and  tired,  the 
axe  to  him  was  always  a  plaything  —  a 
plaything  that  he  loved.  At  last,  from 
under  the  henhouse  near  by  he  drew  out 
and  split  some  pieces  of  kindling,  and  then 
stored  his  axe  in  that  dry  place  with  fresh 
concern  about  soft  weather :  for  more  rain 
drops  were  falling  and  the  wind  was  ris 
ing. 

Stooping  down  now,  he  piled  the  fagots 
in  the  hollow  of  his  arm,  till  the  wood 
rose  cold  and  damp  against  his  hot  neck, 
against  his  ear,  and  carried  first  some  to 
the  kitchen ;  and  then  some  to  the  side 
porch  of  the  house,  where  he  arranged  it 
carefully  against  the  wall,  close  to  the 
door,  and  conveniently  for  a  hand  reach 
ing  outward  from  within.  As  he  was 
heaping  up  the  last  of  it,  having  taken 


172  The  Reign  of  Law 

three  turns  to  the  woodpile,  the  door 
was  opened  slowly,  and  a  slight,  slender 
woman  peered  around  at  him. 

"  What  makes  you  so  late  ?  " 

Her  tone  betrayed  minute  curiosity 
rather  than  any  large  concern. 

"  I  wanted  to  finish  a  shock,  mother. 
But  it  isn't  much  later  than  usual ;  it's  the 
clouds.  Here's  some  good  kindling  for 
you  in  the  morning  and  a  basket  of  cobs," 
he  added  tenderly. 

She  received  in  silence  the  feed  basket 
he  held  out  to  her,  and  watched  him  as  he 
kneeled,  busily  piling  up  the  last  of  the 
fagots. 

"  I  hope  you  haven't  cut  any  more  of 
that  green  oak ;  your  father  couldn't  keep 


warm." 


"  This  is  hickory,  dead  hickory,  with 
some  seasoned  oak.  Father'll  have  to  take 
his  coat  off  and  you'll  have  to  get  a  fan." 

There  was  a  moment  of  silence. 

"  Supper's  over,"  she  said  simply. 

She  held  in  one  hand  a  partly  eaten 
biscuit. 


The  Reign  of  Law  173 

"  I'll  be  in  soon  now.  I've  nothing  to 
do  but  kindle  my  fire." 

After  another  short  interval  she  asked : 

"  Is  it  going  to  snow  ?  " 

"  It's  going  to  do  something." 

She  stepped  slowly  back  into  the  warm 
room  and  closed  the  door. 

David  hurried  to  the  woodpile  and 
carried  the  sticks  for  his  own  grate  up 
stairs,  making  two  trips  of  it.  The  stair 
way  was  dark ;  his  room  dark  and  damp, 
and  filled  with  the  smell  of  farm  boots 
and  working  clothes  left  wet  in  the  closets. 
Groping  his  way  to  the  mantelpiece,  he 
struck  a  sulphur  match,  lighted  a  half- 
burned  candle,  and  kneeling  down,  began 
to  kindle  his  fire. 

As  it  started  and  spread,  little  by  little 
it  brought  out  of  the  cheerless  darkness 
all  the  features  of  the  rough,  homely,  kind 
face,  bent  over  and  watching  it  so  impa 
tiently  and  yet  half  absently.  It  gave 
definition  to  the  shapeless  black  hat, 
around  the  brim  of  which  still  hung  fila 
ments  of  tow,  in  the  folds  of  which  lay 


174  The  Reign  of  Law 

white  splinters  of  hemp  stalk.  There  was 
the  dust  of  field  and  barn  on  the  edges  of 
the  thick  hair  about  the  ears ;  dust  around 
the  eyes  and  the  nostrils.  He  was  resting 
on  one  knee  ;  over  the  other  his  hands  were 
crossed  —  enormous,  powerful,  coarsened 
hands,  the  skin  so  frayed  and  chapped 
that  around  the  finger-nails  and  along  the 
cracks  here  and  there  a  little  blood  had 
oozed  out  and  dried. 


XII 

WHEN  David  came  down  to  his  supper, 
all  traces  of  the  day's  labor  that  were  re 
movable  had  disappeared.  He  was  clean ; 
and  his  working  clothes  had  been  laid  aside 
for  the  cheap  black-cloth  suit,  which  he 
had  been  used  to  wear  on  Sundays  while 
he  was  a  student.  Grave,  gentle,  looking 
tired  but  looking  happy,  with  his  big 
shock  head  of  hair  and  a  face  rugged 
and  majestical  like  a  youthful  Beethoven. 
A  kind  mouth,  most  of  all,  and  an  eye  of 
wonderfully  deep  intelligence. 


The  Reign  of  Law  175 

The  narrow,  uncarpeted  stairway  down 
which  he  had  noisily  twisted  his  enormous 
figure,  with  some  amusement,  as  always, 
had  brought  him  to  the  dining  room.  This 
was  situated  between  the  kitchen  and  his 
father's  and  mother's  bedroom.  The  door 
of  each  of  these  stood  ajar,  and  some  of 
the  warmth  of  the  stove  on  one  side  and 
of  the  grate  on  the  other  dried  and  tem 
pered  the  atmosphere. 

His  mother  sat  in  her  place  at  the  head 
of  the  table,  quietly  waiting  for  him,  and 
still  holding  in  one  hand  the  partially 
eaten  biscuit.  As  he  took  his  seat,  she 
rose,  and,  walking  listlessly  to  the  kitchen 
door,  made  a  listless  request  of  one  of  the 
two  negro  women.  When  the  coffee  had 
been  brought  in,  standing,  she  poured  out 
a  cup,  sweetened,  stirred,  and  tasted  it, 
and  putting  the  spoon  into  it,  placed  it 
before  him.  Then  she  resumed  her  seat 
(and  the  biscuit)  and  looked  on,  occasion 
ally  scrutinizing  his  face,  with  an  expres 
sion  perhaps  the  most  tragic  that  can  ever 
be  worn  by  maternal  eyes :  the  expression 


176  The  Reign  of  Law 

of  a  lowly  mother  who  has  given  birth  to 
a  lofty  son,  and  who  has  neither  the  power 
to  understand  him,  nor  the  grace  to  realize 
her  own  inferiority, 

She  wore,  as  usual,  a  dress  of  plain 
mourning,  although  she  had  not  the 
slightest  occasion  to  mourn  —  at  least, 
from  the  matter  of  death.  In  the  throat 
of  this  was  caught  a  large,  thin,  oval- 
shaped  breastpin,  containing  a  plait  of  her 
own  and  her  husband's  hair,  braided  to 
gether  ;  and  through  these  there  ran  a 
silky  strand  cut  from  David's  head  when 
an  infant,  and  long  before  the  parents  dis 
covered  how  unlike  their  child  was  to 
themselves.  This  breastpin,  with  the  hair 
of  the  three  heads  of  the  house  inter 
twined,  was  the  only  symbol  in  all  the 
world  of  their  harmony  or  union. 

Around  her  shoulders  she  had  thrown, 
according  to  her  wont,  a  home-knit  crewel 
shawl  of  black  and  purple.  Her  hair, 
thick  and  straight  and  pasted  down  over 
the  temples  of  her  small  head,  looked  like 
a  long-used  wig.  Her  contracted  face 


The  Reign  of  Law  177 

seemed  to  have  accumulated  the  wrinkles 
of  the  most  drawn-out,  careworn  life.  Yet 
she  was  not  old ;  and  these  were  not  the 
lines  of  care ;  for  her  years  had  been  sin 
gularly  uneventful  and  —  for  her  —  happy. 
The  markings  were,  perhaps,  inherited 
from  the  generations  of  her  weather- 
beaten,  toiling,  plain  ancestors  - —  with  the 
added  creases  of  her  own  personal  habits. 
For  she  lived  in  her  house  with  the  regu 
larity  and  contentment  of  an  insect  in  a 
dead  log.  And  few  causes  age  the  body 
faster  than  such  wilful  indolence  and 
monotony  of  mind  as  hers  —  the  mind, 
that  very  principle  of  physical  youthful- 
ness.  Save  only  that  it  can  also  kill 
the  body  ere  it  age  it;  either  by  too 
great  rankness  breaking  down  at  once  the 
framework  on  which  it  has  been  reared,  or 
afterward  causing  this  to  give  way  slowly 
under  the  fruitage  of  thoughts,  too  heavy 
any  longer  to  be  borne. 

That  from  so  dark  a  receptacle  as  this 
mother  there  should  have  emerged  such  a 
child  of  light,  was  one  of  those  mysteries 


178  The  Reign  of  Law 

that  are  the  perpetual  delight  of  Nature 
and  the  despair  of  Science.  This  did  not 
seem  one  of  those  instances  —  also  a  secret 
of  the  great  Creatress- — in  which  she  pro 
duces  upon  the  stem  of  a  common  rose  a 
bud  of  alien  splendor.  It  was  as  if  potter's 
clay  had  conceived  marble.  The  explana 
tion  of  David  did  not  lie  in  the  fact  that 
such  a  mother  had  produced  him. 

One  of  the  truest  marks  of  her  small, 
cold  mind  was  the  rigid  tyranny  exercised 
over  it  by  its  own  worthless  ideas.  Had 
she  not  sat  beside  her  son  while  he  ate, 
had  she  not  denied  herself  the  comfort  of 
the  fireside  in  the  adjoining  room,  in  order- 
that  she  might  pour  out  for  him  the  coffee 
that  was  unfit  to  be  drunk,  she  would  have 
charged  herself  with  being  an  unfaithful, 
undutiful  mother.  But  this  done,  she  saw 
no  further,  beheld  nothing  of  the  neglect, 
the  carelessness,  the  cruelty,  of  all  the  rest, 
part  of  which  this  very  moment  was  out 
spread  beneath  her  eyes. 

For  at  the  foot  of  the  table,  where 
David's  father  had  sat,  were  two  partly 


The  Reign  of  Law  179 

eaten  dishes :  one  of  spare-rib,  one  of 
sausage.  The  gravy  in  each  had  begun 
to  whiten  into  lard.  Plates  heaped  with 
cornbread  and  with  biscuit,  poorly  baked 
and  now  cold,  were  placed  on  each  side. 
In  front  of  him  had  been  set  a  pitcher 
of  milk ;  this  rattled,  as  he  poured  it,  with 
its  own  bluish  ice.  On  all  that  homely, 
neglected  board  one  thing  only  put  every 
thing  else  to  shame.  A  single  candle,  in  a 
low,  brass  candlestick  in  the  middle  of  the 
table,  scarce  threw  enough  light  to  reveal 
the  scene ;  but  its  flame  shot  deep  into 
the  golden,  crystalline  depths  of  a  jar  of 
honey  standing  close  beside  it  —  honey 
from  the  bees  in  the  garden  —  a  scathing 
but  unnoticed  rebuke  from  the  food  and 
housekeeping  of  the  bee  to  the  food  and 
housekeeping  of  the  woman. 

Work  in  the  hemp  fields  leaves  a  man's 
body  calling  in  every  tissue  for  restora 
tion  of  its  waste.  David  had  hardly  taken 
his  seat  before  his  eye  swept  the  prospect 
before  him  with  savage  hope.  In  him 
was  the  hunger,  not  of  toil  alone,  but  of 


180  The  Reign  of  Law 

youth  still  growing  to  manhood,  of  abso 
lute  health.  Whether  he  felt  any  mor 
tification  at  his  mother's  indifference  is 
doubtful.  Assuredly  life-long  experience 
had  taught  him  that  nothing  better  was  to 
be  expected  from  her.  How  far  he  had 
unconsciously  grown  callous  to  things  as 
they  were  at  home,  there  is  no  telling. 
Ordinarily  we  become  in  such  matters 
what  we  must ;  but  it  is  likewise  true  that 
the  first  and  last  proof  of  high  personal 
superiority  is  the  native,  irrepressible 
power  of  the  mind  to  create  standards 
which  rise  above  all  experience  and 
surroundings ;  to  carry  everywhere  with 
itself,  whether  it  will  or  not,  a  blazing, 
scorching  censorship  of  the  facts  that 
offend  it.  Regarding  the  household  man 
agement  ^of  his  mother,  David  at  least 
never  murmured ;  what  he  secretly  felt  he 
alone  knew,  perhaps  not  even  he,  since  he 
was  no  self-examiner.  As  to  those  short 
comings  of  hers  which  he  could  not  fail 
to  see,  for  them  he  unconsciously  showed 
tenderest  compassion. 


The  Reign  of  Laiv  181 

She  had  indulged  so  long  her  sloth 
even  in  the  operation  of  thinking,  that  few 
ideas  now  rose  from  the  inner  void  to  dis 
turb  the  apathetic  surface;  and  she  did 
not  hesitate  to  recur  to  any  one  of  these 
any  number  of  times  in  a  conversation 
with  the  same  person. 

"  What  makes  you  so  late  ?  " 

"  I  wanted  to  finish  a  shock.  Then 
there  was  the  feeding,  and  the  wood  to 
cut.  And  I  had  to  warm  my  room  up  a 
little  before  I  could  wash." 

"  Is  it  going  to  snow  ?  " 

"  It's  hard  to  say.  The  weather  looks 
very  unsettled  and  threatening.  That's 
one  reason  why  I  wanted  to  finish  my 
shock." 

There  was  silence  for  a  while.  David 
was  too  ravenous  to  talk ;  and  his  moth 
er's  habit  was  to  utter  one  sentence  at 
a  time. 

"  I  got  three  fresh  eggs  to-day ;  one  had 
dropped  from  the  roost  and  frozen ;  it  was 
cracked,  but  it  will  do  for  the  coffee  in  the 
morning." 


1 82  The  Reign  of  Law 

"Winter  must  be  nearly  over  if  the 
hens  are  beginning  to  lay:  they  know. 
They  must  have  some  fresh  nests." 

"  The  cook  wants  to  kill  one  of  the 
old  ones  for  soup  to-morrow." 

"  What  an  evil-minded  cook !  " 

It  was  with  his  mother  only  that  David 
showed  the  new  cheerfulness  that  had  be 
gun  to  manifest  itself  in  him  since  his 
return  from  college.  She,  however,  did 
not  understand  the  reasons  of  this  and 
viewed  it  unfavorably. 

"  Wre  opened  a  hole  in  the  last  hill  of 
turnips  to-day." 

She  spoke  with  uneasiness. 

"  There'll  be  enough  to  last,  I  reckon, 
mother." 

"  You  needn't  pack  any  more  chips  to 
the  smoke-house :  the  last  meat's  smoked 
enough." 

"  Very  well,  then.  You  shall  have  every 
basketful  of  them  for  your  own  fire." 

"  If  you  can  keep  them  from  the  ne 
groes  :  negroes  love  chips." 

"  I'll    save   them   while    I    chop.     You 


The  Reign  of  Law  183 

shall  have  them,  if  I  have  to  catch  them 
as  they  fly." 

His  hunger  had  been  satisfied :  his 
spirits  began  to  rise. 

"  Mother,  are  you  going  to  eat  that  piece 
of  biscuit?  If  not,  just  hand  it  over  to 
me,  please." 

She  looked  dryly  down  at  the  bread  in 
her  fingers  :  humor  was  denied  her  —  that 
playfulness  of  purest  reason. 

David  had  commenced  to  collect  a 
plateful  of  scraps  — the  most  appetizing 
of  the  morsels  that  he  himself  had  not 
devoured.  He  rose  and  went  out  into  the 
porch  to  the  dog. 

"  Now,  mother,"  he  said,  reentering ;  and 
with  quiet  dignity  he  preceded  her  into  the 
room  adjoining. 

His  father  sat  on  one  side  of  the  fire 
place,  watching  the  open  door  for  the 
entrance  of  his  son.  He  appeared  slightly 
bent  over  in  his  chair.  Plainly  the  days 
of  rough  farm-work  and  exposure  were 
over  for  him,  prematurely  aged  and  housed. 
There  was  about  him  —  about  the  shape 


184  The  Reign  of  Law 

and  carriage  of  the  head  —  in  the  expres 
sion  of  the  eye  most  of  all,  perhaps,  —  the 
not  wholly  obliterated  markings  of  a 
thoughtful  and  powerful  breed  of  men. 
His  appearance  suggested  that  some  ex 
planation  of  David  might  be  traceable  in 
this  quarter.  For  while  we  know  nothing 
of  these  deep  things,  nor  ever  shall,  in  the 
sense  that  we  can  supply  the  proofs  of 
what  we  conjecture ;  while  Nature  goes 
ever  about  her  ancient  work,  and  we  can 
not  declare  that  we  have  ever  watched  the 
operations  of  her  fingers,  think  on  we 
will,  and  reason  we  must,  amid  her 
otherwise  intolerable  mysteries.  Though 
we  accomplish  no  more  in  our  philosophy 
than  the  poor  insect,  which  momentarily 
illumines  its  wandering  through  the  illim 
itable  night  by  a  flash  from  its  own 
body. 

Lost  in  obscurity,  then,  as  was  David's 
relation  to  his  mother,  there  seemed  some 
gleams  of  light  discernible  in  that  between 
father  and  son.  For  there  are  men  whom 
nature  seems  to  make  use  of  to  connect 


g  5 


The  Reign  of  Law  185 

their  own  offspring  not  with  themselves 
but  with  earlier  sires.  They  are  like  slug 
gish  canals  running  between  far-separated 
oceans  —  from  the  deeps  of  life  to  the 
deeps  of  life,  allowing  the  freighted  ships 
to  pass.  And  no  more  does  the  stream 
understand  what  moves  across  its  surface 
than  do  such  commonplace  agents  com 
prehend  the  sons  who  have  sprung  from 
their  own  loins.  Here,  too,  is  one  of 
Nature's  greatest  cruelties  to  the  parent 
As  David's  father  would  not  have 
recognized  his  remote  ancestors  if  brought 
face  to  face,  so  he  did  not  discover  in 
David  the  image  of  them  —  the  reappear 
ance  in  the  world,  under  different  condi 
tions,  of  certain  elements  of  character 
found  of  old  in  the  stock  and  line.  He 
could  not  have  understood  how  it  was 
possible  for  him  to  transmit  to  the  boy  a 
nature  which  he  himself  did  not  actively 
possess.  And,  therefore,  instead  of  be 
holding  here  one  of  Nature's  mysterious 
returns,  after  a  long  period  of  quiescence, 
to  her  suspended  activities  and  the  per- 


1 86  The  Reign  of  Law 

petuation  of  an  interrupted  type,  so  that 
his  son  was  but  another  strong  link  of 
descent  joined  to  himself,  a  weak  one; 
instead  of  this,  he  saw  only  with  constant 
secret  resentment  that  David  was  at  once 
unlike  him  and  his  superior. 

These  two  had  worked  side  by  side 
year  after  year  on  the  farm ;  such  com 
radeship  in  labor  usually  brings  into  con 
sciousness  again  the  primeval  bond  of 
Man  against  Nature  —  the  brotherhood, 
at  least,  of  the  merely  human.  But 
while  they  had  mingled  their  toil,  sweat, 
hopes,  and  disappointments,  their  minds 
had  never  met.  The  father  had  never 
felt  at  home  with  his  son ;  David,  with 
out  knowing  why  —  and  many  a  sorrow 
ful  hour  it  had  cost  him — had  never 
accepted  as  father  the  man  who  had 
brought  him  into  the  world.  Each  soon 
perceived  that  a  distance  separated  them 
which  neither  could  cross,  though  vainly 
both  should  try,  and  often  both  did  try,  to 
cross  it. 

As  he   sat   in   the   chimney-corner   to- 


The  Reign  of  Law  187 

night,  his  very  look  as  he  watched  the 
door  made  it  clear  that  he  dreaded  the 
entrance  of  his  son;  and  to  this  feeling  had 
lately  been  added  deeper  estrangement. 

When  David  walked  in,  he  took  a  seat 
in  front  of  the  fire.  His  mother  followed, 
bringing  the  sugar-bowl  and  the  honey, 
which  she  locked  in  a  closet  in  the  wall : 
the  iron  in  her  blood  was  parsimony. 
Then  she  seated  herself  under  the  mantel 
piece  on  the  opposite  side  and  looked 
silently  across  at  the  face  of  her  husband. 
(She  was  his  second  wife.  His  offspring 
by  his  first  wife  had  died  young.  David 
was  the  only  child  of  mature  parents.) 
She  looked  across  at  him  with  the  com 
placent  expression  of  the  wife  who  feels 
that  she  and  her  husband  are  one,  even 
though  their  offspring  may  not  be  of 
them.  The  father  looked  at  David; 
David  looked  into  the  fire.  There  was 
embarrassment  ali  round, 

"  How  are  you  feeling  to-night,  father?  " 
he  asked  affectionately,  a  moment  later 
without  lifting  his  eyes. 


1 88  The  Reign  of  Law 

"  I've  been  suffering  a  good  deal.  I 
think  it's  the  weather." 

"  I'm  sorry." 

"  Do  you  think  it's  going  to  snow  ?  M 

The  husband  had  lived  so  long  and 
closely  with  his  wife,  that  the  mechanism 
of  their  minds  moved  much  like  the  two 
wall-clocks  in  adjoining  rooms  of  the 
house;  which  ticked  and  struck,  year 
after  year,  never  quite  together  and 
never  far  apart.  When  David  was  first 
with  one  and  then  with  another,  he  was 
often  obliged  to  answer  the  same  ques 
tions  twice  —  sometimes  thrice,  since  his 
mother  alone  required  two  identical  re 
sponses.  He  replied  now  with  his  invari 
able  and  patient  courtesy  —  yet  scarcely 
patient,  inasmuch  as  this  did  not  try  him. 

"  What  made  you  so  late  ?  " 

David  explained  again. 

"  How  much  hemp  did  you  break  ?  " 

"  I  didn't  weigh  it,  father.  Fifty  or 
sixty  pounds,  perhaps." 

64  How  many  more  shocks  are  there  in 
the  field?" 


The  Reign  of  Law  i8g 

"  Twelve  or  fifteen.  I  wish  there  were 
a  hundred." 

"  I  wish  so,  too/'  said  David's  mother* 
smiling  plaintively  at  her  husband. 

"  John  Bailey  was  here  after  dinner,"  re 
marked  David's  father.  "  He  has  sold  his 
crop  of  twenty-seven  acres  for  four  thou 
sand  dollars.  Ten  dollars  a  hundred." 

"  That's  fine,"  said  David  with  enthusi 
asm,  thinking  regretfully  of  their  two  or 
three  acres. 

"  Good  hemp  lands  are  going  to  rent 
for  twenty  or  twenty-five  dollars  an  acre 
in  the  spring,"  continued  his  father,  watch 
ing  the  effect  of  his  words. 

David  got  up,  and  going  to  the  door, 
reached  around  against  the  wall  for  two  or 
three  sticks  of  the  wood  he  had  piled  there. 
He  replenished  the  fire,  which  was  going 
down,  and  resumed  his  seat. 

For  a  while  father  and.  son  discussed  in 
a  reserved  way  matters  pertaining  to  the 
farm :  the  amount  of  feed  in  the  barn  and 
the  chances  of  its  lasting;  crops  to  be 
sown  in  the  spring,  and  in  what  fields; 


190  The  Reign  of  Law 

the  help  they  should  hire  — •  a  new  trouble 
at  that  time.  For  the  negroes,  recently 
emancipated,  were  wandering  hither  and 
thither  over  the  farms,  or  flocking  to  the 
towns,  unused  to  freedom,  unused  to  the 
very  wages  they  now  demanded,  and 
nearly  everywhere  seeking  employment 
from  any  one  in  preference  to  their  former 
masters  as  part  of  the  proof  that  they 
were  no  longer  in  slavery.  David's  father 
had  owned  but  a  single  small  family  of 
slaves :  the  women  remained,  the  man 
had  sought  work  on  one  of  the  far  richer 
estates  in  the  neighborhood. 

They  threshed  over  once  more  the 
straw  of  these  familiar  topics  and  then 
fell  into  embarrassed  silence.  The  father 
broke  this  with  an  abrupt,  energetic  ex 
clamation  and  a  sharp  glance:  — 

"If  hemp  keeps  up  to  what  it  is  now,  I 
am  going  to  put  in  more." 

"  Where  ?  "  asked  the  son,  quietly.  "  I 
don't  see  that  we  have  any  ground  to 
spare." 

"  I'll  take  the  woods." 


The  Reign  of  Law  191 

"Father!"  cried  David,  wheeling  on 
aim. 

"  I'll  take  the  woods ! "  repeated  his 
father,  with  a  flash  of  anger,  of  bitterness, 
<  And  if  I'm  not  able  to  hire  the  hands  to 
clear  it,  then  I'll  rent  it.  Bailey  wants  it 
He  offered  twenty-five  dollars  an  acre, 
Or  I'll  sell  it,"  he  continued  with  more, 
anger,  more  bitterness.  "  He'd  rather  buy 
it  than  rent." 

"  How  could  we  do  without  the  woods  ? >? 
inquired  the  son,  looking  like  one  dazed,  — 
"  without  the  timber  and  the  grazing  ?  " 

"  What  will  we  do  without  the  woods  ? '' 
cried  his  father,  catching  up  the  words 
excitedly.  "  What  will  we  do  without  the 

/•  5  " 

farm  / 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  all  this,  father  ? 
What  is  back  of  it  ? "  cried  David,  sud 
denly  aroused  by  vague  fears. 

"  I  mean,"  exclaimed  the  father,  with  a 
species  of  satisfaction  in  his  now  plain 
words,  "  I  mean  that  Bailey  wants  to  buy 
the  farm.  I  mean  that  he  urges  me  to 
sell  out  for  my  own  good !  tells  me  J 


The  Reign  of  Law 

must  sell  out!  must  move!  leave  Ken 
tucky!  go  to  Missouri — -like  other  men 
when  they  fail." 

"  Go  to  Missouri,"  echoed  the  wife  with 
dismal  resignation,  smiling  at  her  hus 
band. 

"  Have  you  sold  it  ?  "  asked  David,  with 
flushed,  angry  face. 

"  No." 

"  Nor  promised  ?  " 

"No!" 

"  Then,  father,  don't !  Bailey  is  trying 
again  to  get  the  farm  away  from  you. 
You  and  mother  shall  never  sell  your 
home  and  move  to  Missouri  on  my  ac 
count." 

The  son  sat  looking  into  the  fire,  con 
trolling  his  feelings.  The  father  sat  look 
ing  at  the  son,  making  a  greater  effort  to 
control  his.  Both  of  them  realized  the 
poverty  of  the  place  and  the  need  of 
money. 

The  hour  was  already  past  the  father's 
early  bed-time.  He  straightened  himself 
up  now,  and  turning  his  back,  took  off  his 


The  Reign  of  Law  193 

coat,  hung  it  on  the  back  of  his  chair,  and 
began  to  unbutton  his  waistcoat,  and  rub 
his  arms.  The  mother  rose,  and  going  to 
the  high-posted  bed  in  a  corner  of  the 
room,  arranged  the  pillows,  turned  down 
the  covers,  and  returning,  sat  provision 
ally  on  the  edge  of  her  chair  and  released 
her  breastpin.  David  started  up. 

"  Mother,  give  me  a  candle,  will  you  ?  " 
He  went  over  with  her  to  the  closet, 
waited  while  she  unlocked  it  and,  thrusting 
her  arm  deep  into  its  disordered  depths, 
searched  till  she  drew  out  a  candle.  No 
good-night  was  spoken  ;  and  David,  with 
a  look  at  his  father  and  mother  which 
neither  of  them  saw,  opened  and  closed 
the  door  of  their  warm  room,  and  found 
himself  in  the  darkness  outside  at  the  foot 
of  the  cold  staircase. 


194  The  Reign  of  Law 


XIII 

A  BED  of  crimson  coals  in  the  bottom  ol 
the  grate  was  all  that  survived  of  his  own 
fire. 

He  sat  down  before  it,  not  seeing  it,  his 
candle  unlighted  in  his  hand,  a  tragedy 
in  his  eyes. 

A  comfortless  room.  Rag  carpeting  on 
the  floor.  No  rug  softening  the  hearth 
stones.  The  sashes  of  the  windows  loose 
in  the  frames  and  shaken  to-night  by 
twisty  gusts.  A  pane  of  glass  in  one  had 
been  broken  and  the  opening  pasted  over 
with  a  sheet  of  letter  paper.  This  had 
been  burst  by  an  indolent  hand,  thrust 
through  to  close  the  shutters  outside ; 
and  a  current  of  cold  air  now  swept 
across  the  small  room.  The  man  felt  it, 
shook  himself  free  of  depressing  thoughts, 
rose  resolutely.  He  took  from  a  closet 
one  of  his  most  worthless  coats,  and  roll= 
ing  it  into  a  wad,  stopped  the  hole. 

Going  back  to  the  grate,  he  piled  on  the 


The  Reign  of  Law  195 

wood,  watching  the  blaze  as  it  rushed  up 
over  the  logs,  devouring  the  dried  lichens 
on  the  bark;  then  sinking  back  to  the 
bottom  rounds,  where  it  must  slowly  rise 
again,  reducing  the  wood  to  ashes. 

Beside  him  as  he  sat  in  his  rush-bot 
tomed  chair  stood  a  small  square  table  and 
on  this  a  low  brass  candlestick,  the  com 
panion  of  the  one  in  the  dining  room, 
A  half-burnt  candle  rose  out  of  the  socket. 
As  David  now  lighted  it  and  laid  the  long 
fresh  candle  alongside  the  snuffers,  he 
measured  with  his  eye  the  length  of  his 
luminaries  and  the  amount  of  his  wood  — 
two  friends.  The  little  grate  had  com 
menced  to  roar  at  him  bravely,  affection 
ately;  and  the  candle  sputtered  to  him 
and  threw  sparks  into  the  air  —  the  rock 
ets  of  its  welcoming  flame. 

It  was  not  yet  ten  o'clock :  two  hours 
of  the  long  winter  evening  remained.  He 
turned  to  his  treasury. 

This  was  a  trunk  in  a  corner,  the  trunk 
he  had  bought  while  at  college,  small  and 
cheap  in  itself,  not  in  what  it  held.  For 


The  Reign  of  Law 

here  were  David's  books  —  the  great  grave 
books  which  had  been  the  making  of  him, 
or  the  undoing  of  him,  according  as  one 
may  have  enough  of  God's  wisdom  and 
mercy  to  decide  whether  it  were  the  one 
or  the  other. 

As  the  man  now  moved  his  chair  over, 
lifted  the  lid,  and  sat  gazing  down  at  the 
backs  of  them,  arranged  in  a  beautiful 
order  of  his  own,  there  was  in  the  lofty, 
solemn  look  of  him  some  further  evidence 
of  their  power  over  him.  The  coarse  toil  of 
the  day  was  forgotten ;  his  loved  depend 
ent  animals  in  the  wind-swept  barn  for 
gotten  ;  the  evening  with  his  father  and 
mother,  the  unalterable  emptiness  of  it, 
the  unkindness,  the  threatening  tragedy, 
forgotten.  Not  that  desolate  room  with 
firelight  and  candle;  not  the  poor  farm 
house  ;  not  the  meagre  farm,  nor  the 
whole  broad  Kentucky  plateau  of  fields 
and  woods,  heavy  with  winter  wealth, 
heavy  with  comfortable  homesteads  —  any 
longer  held  him  as  domicile,  or  native 
region:  he  was  gone  far  away  into  the 


The  Reign  of  Law  197 

company  of  his  high-minded  masters,  the 
writers  of  those  books.  Choosing  one,  he 
closed  the  lid  of  the  trunk  reluctantly 
over  the  rest,  and  with  the  book  in  one 
hand  and  the  chair  in  the  other,  went 
back  to  the  fire. 

An  hour  passed,  during  which,  one 
elbow  on  the  table,  the  shaded  side  of 
his  face  supported  in  the  palm  of  his 
hand,  he  read,  scarce  moving  except  to 
snuff  the  wick  or  to  lay  on  a  fresh  fagot. 
At  the  end  of  this  time  other  laws  than 
those  which  the  writer  was  tracing  began 
to  assert  their  supremacy  over  David —  the 
laws  of  strength  and  health,  warmth  and 
weariness.  Sleep  was  descending  on  him, 
relaxing  his  limbs,  spreading  a  quiet  mist 
through  his  brain,  caressing  his  eyelids. 
He  closed  the  pages  and  turned  to  his 
dying  fire.  The  book  caused  him  to 
wrestle ;  he  wanted  rest. 

And  now,  floating  to  him  through  that 
mist  in  his  brain,  as  softly  as  a  nearing 
melody,  as  radiantly  as  dawning  light,  came 
the  image  of  Gabriella:  after  David  had 


198  The  Reign  of  Law 

pursued  Knowledge  awhile  he  was  ready 
for  Love.  But  knowledge,  truth,  wisdom 
before  every  other  earthly  passion  —  that 
was  the  very  soul  of  him.  His  heart 
yearned  for  her  now  in  this  closing  hour, 
when  everything  else  out  of  his  way, 
field-work,  stable-work,  wood-cutting,  filial 
duties,  study,  he  was  alone  with  the  thought 
of  her,  the  newest  influence  in  his  life, 
taking  heed  of  her  solely,  hearkening  only 
to  his  heart's  need  of  her.  In  all  his  rude 
existence  she  was  the  only  being  he  had 
ever  known  who  seemed  to  him  worthy  of 
a  place  in  the  company  of  his  great  books. 
Had  the  summons  come  to  pack  his  effects 
to-morrow  and,  saying  good-by  to  every 
thing  else,  start  on  a  journey  to  the  con 
genial  places  where  his  mighty  masters 
lived  and  wrought,  he  would  have  wished 
her  alone  to  go  with  him,  sharer  of  life's 
loftiness.  Her  companionship  wherever 
he  might  be  —  to  have  just  that;  to  feel 
that  she  was  always  with  him,  and  always 
one  with  him ;  to  be  able  to  turn  his  eyes 
to  hers  before  some  vanishing  firelight  at 


The  Reign  of  Law  199 

an  hour  like  this,  with  deep  rest  near  them 
side  by  side  ! 

He  lingered  over  the  first  time  he  had 
ever  seen  her ;  that  memorable  twilight  in 
the  town,  the  roofs  and  chimneys  of  the 
houses,  half-white,  half-brown  with  melting 
snow,  outlined  against  the  low  red  sunset 
sky.  He  had  not  long  before  left  the 
room  in  the  university  where  his  trial  had 
taken  place,  and  where  he  had  learned 
that  it  was  all  over  with  him.  He  was 
passing  along  one  of  the  narrow  cross 
streets,  when  at  a  certain  point  his  course 
was  barred  by  a  heap  of  fresh  cedar 
boughs,  just  thrown  out  of  a  wagon. 
Some  children  were  gay  and  busy,  carry 
ing  them  through  the  side  doors,  the  sex 
ton  aiding.  Other  children  inside  the 
lighted  church  were  practising  a  carol  to 
organ  music ;  the  choir  of  their  voices 
swelled  out  through  the  open  doors,  and 
some  of  the  little  ones,  tugging  at  the 
cedar,  took  up  the  strain. 

She  was  standing  on  the  low  steps  of 
the  church,  in  charge  of  the  children.     In 


2OO  The  Reign  of  Law 

one  hand  she  held  an  unfinished  wreath, 
and  she  was  binding  the  dark,  shining 
leaves  with  the  other.  A  swarm  of  snow- 
flakes,  scarce  more  than  glittering  crystals, 
danced  merrily  about  her  head  and  flecked 
her  black  fur  on  one  shoulder.  As  David, 
not  very  mindful  just  then  of  whither  he 
was  going,  stepped  forward  across  the 
light  and  paused  before  the  pile  of  cedar 
boughs,  she  glanced  at  him  with  a  smile, 
seeing  how  his  path  was  barred.  Then 
she  said  to  them :  — 

"  Hurry,  children !  The  night  comes 
when  we  cannot  work  I  " 

It  was  an  hour  of  such  good-will  on 
earth  to  men  that  no  one  could  seem  a 
stranger  to  her.  He  instantly  became  a 
human  brother,  next  of  kin  to  her  —  that 
was  all;  she  was  wholly  under  the  influ 
ence  of  the  innocence  and  purity  within 
and  without. 

As  he  made  no  reply  and  for  a  moment 
did  not  move,  she  glanced  quickly  at  him, 
regretting  the  smile.  When  she  saw  his 
face,  he  saw  the  joy  go  down  out  of  hers ; 


The  Reign  of  Law  201 

and  he  felt,  as  he  turned  off,  that  she  went 
with  him  along  the  black  street:  alone,  he 
seemed  not  alone  any  more. 

Though  he  had  been  with  her  many 
times  since,  no  later  impression  had  ef 
faced  one  line  of  that  first  picture.  There 
she  stood  ever  to  him,  and  would  stand: 
on  the  step  of  the  church,  smiling  in  her 
mourning,  binding  her  wreath,  the  jets  of 
the  chandelier  streaming  out  on  her  snow- 
sprinkled  shoulder,  the  children  carolling 
among  the  fragrant  cedar  boughs  scattered 
at  her  feet ;  she  there,  decorating  the 
church,  happy  to  be  of  pious  service.  Ah, 
to  have  her  there  in  the  room  with  him 
now;  to  be  able  to  turn  his  eyes  to  hers 
in  the  vanishing  firelight,  near  sleep  await 
ing  them,  side  by  side. 

There  was  the  sound  of  a  scratching 
on  David's  window  shutters,  as  though  a 
stiff  brush  were  being  moved  up  and 
down  across  the  slats.  He  became  aware 
that  this  sound  had  reached  him  at  in 
tervals  several  times  already,  but  as  often 
happens,  had  been  disregarded  by  him 


2O2  The  Reign  of  Law 

owing  to  his  preoccupation.  Now  it  was 
so  loud  as  to  force  itself  positively  upon 
his  attention. 

He  listened,  puzzled,  wondering.  His 
window  stood  high  from  the  ground  and 
clear  of  any  object.  In  a  few  moments, 
the  sound  made  itself  audible  again.  He 
sprang  up,  wide  awake  now,  and  raising 
the  sash,  pushed  open  the  shutters  —  one 
of  them  easily;  against  the  other  there 
was  resistance  from  outside.  This  yielded 
before  his  pressure ;  and  as  the  shutter 
was  forced  wide  open  and  David  peered 
out,  there  swung  heavily  against  his  cheek 
what  felt  like  an  enormous  brush  of  thorns, 
covered  with  ice.  It  was  the  end  of  one 
of  the  limbs  of  the  cedar  tree  which  stood 
several  feet  from  his  window  on  one  side, 
and  close  to  the  wall  of  the  house.  Before 
David  was  born,  it  had  been  growing  there, 
a  little  higher,  more  far-reaching  laterally, 
every  year,  until  several  topmost  boughs 
had  long  since  risen  above  the  level  of  the 
eaves  and  dropped  their  dry  needles  on 
the  rotting  shingles.  Now  one  of  the 


The  Reign  of  Law  203 

limbs,  bent  over  sidewise  under  its  ice- 
freighted  berries  and  twigs,  hung  as  low 
as  his  window,  and  the  wind  was  tossing 
it. 

Sleet !  This,  then,  was  the  nature  of 
the  threatening  storm,  which  all  day  had 
made  man  and  beast  foreboding  and  dis 
tressed.  David  held  out  his  hand :  rain 
was  falling  steadily,  each  drop  freezing 
on  whatsoever  it  fell,  adding  ice  to  ice. 
The  moon  rode  high  by  this  time;  and 
its  radiance  pouring  from  above  on  the 
roof  of  riftless  cloud,  diffused  enough  light 
below  to  render  large  objects  near  at  hand 
visible  in  bulk  arid  outline.  A  row  of  old 
cedars  stretched  across  the  yard.  Their 
shapes,  so  familiar  to  him,  were  already 
disordered.  The  sleet  must  have  been 
falling  for  hours  to  have  weighed  them 
down  this  way  and  that.  A  peculiarity  of 
the  night  was  the  wind,  which  increased 
constantly,  but  with  fitful  violence,  giving 
no  warning  of  its  high  swoop,  seizure,  and 
wrench. 

Sleet!      Scarce   a   winter   but   he   had 


204  The  Reign  of  Law 

seen  some  little :  once,  in  bis  childhood, 
a  great  one.  He  had  often  heard  his 
father  talk  of  others  which  he  remembered 
—  with  comment  on  the  destruction  they 
had  wrought  far  and  wide,  on  the  suffer 
ing  or  all  stock  and  of  the  wild  creatures. 
The  ravage  had  been  more  terrible  in  the 
forests,  his  father  had  thought,  than  what 
the  cyclones  cause  when  they  rush  upon 
the  trees,  heavy  in  their  full  summer- 
leaves,  and  sweep  them  down  as  easily 
as  umbrellas  set  up  on  the  ground.  So 
much  of  the  finest  forests  of  Kentucky 
had  been  lost  through  its  annual  summer 
tempests  and  its  rarer  but  more  awful 
wintry  sleets. 

No  work  for  him  in  the  hemp  fields 
to-morrow,  nor  for  days.  No  school  for 
Gabriella;  the  more  distant  children  would 
be  unable  to  ride ;  the  nearest  unable  to 
foot  it  through  the  mirrored  woods ;  un 
less  the  weather  should  moderate  before 
morning  and  melt  the  ice  away  as  quickly 
as  it  had  formed  —  as  sometimes  was  the 
case.  A  good  sign  of  this,  he  took  it? 


The  Reign  of  Law  205 

was  the  ever  rising  wind :  for  a  rising  wind 
and  a  falling  temperature  seldom  appeared 
together.  As  he  bent  his  ear  listening,  he 
could  hear  the  wild  roar  of  the  surges  of 
air  breaking  through  the  forest,  the  edge 
of  which  was  not  fifty  yards  away. 

David  sprang  from  his  chair;  there 
was  a  loud  crack,  and  the  great  limb 
of  the  cedar  swept  rattling  down  across 
his  shutters,  twisted>  snapped  off  at  the 
trunk,  rolled  over  in  the  air,  and  striking 
the  ground  on  its  back,  lay  like  a  huge 
animal  knocked  lifeless. 

He  forgot  bed  and  sleep  and  replen 
ished  his  fire.  His  ear,  trained  to  catch 
and  to  distinguish  sounds  of  country  life, 
was  now  becoming  alive  to  the  commence 
ment  of  one  of  those  vast  appalling  catas 
trophes  in  Nature,  for  which  man  sees 
no  reason  and  can  detect  the  furtherance  ^ 
of  no  plan  —  law  being  turned  with  seem 
ing  blindness,  and  in  the  spirit  of  sheer 
wastage,  upon  what  it  has  itself  achieved, 
and  spending  its  sublime  forces  in  a  work 
of  self-desolation. 


206  The  Reign  of  Law 

Of  the  two  windows  in  his  room,  one 
opened  upon  the  back  yard,  one  upon  the 
front.  Both  back  yard  and  front  con 
tained,  according  to  the  custom  of  the 
country,  much  shrubbery,  with  aged  fruit 
trees,  mostly  cherry  and  peach.  There 
were  locusts  also  at  the  rear  of  the  house, 
the  old-time  yard  favorite  of  the  people ; 
other  forest  trees  stood  around.  Through 
both  his  windows  there  began  to  reach  him 
a  succession  of  fragile  sounds ;  the  snap 
ping  of  rotten,  weakest,  most  overbur 
dened  twigs.  On  fruit  tree  and  forest 
tree  these  went  down  first — -as  is  also  the 
law  of  storm  and  trial  of  strength  among 
men.  The  ground  was  now  as  one  floor 
ing  of  glass ;  and  as  some  of  these  small 
branches  dropped  from  the  tree-tops,  they 
were  broken  into  fragments,  like  icicles, 
and  slid  rattling  away  into  the  nearest  de 
pressions  of  the  ground.  Starting  far  up 
in  the  air  sometimes,  they  struck  sheer 
upon  other  lower  branches,  bringing  them 
along  also ;  this  gathering  weight  in  turn 
descended  upon  others  lower  yet,  until,  so 


The  Reign  of  Law  207 

augmented,  the  entire  mass  swept  down 
ward    and    fell,   shivered    against    crystal 
flooring. 

But  soon  these  more  trivial  facts  held 
his  attention  no  longer :  they  were  the  mere 
reconnaissance  of  the  elements  —  the  first 
light  attack  of  Nature  upon  her  own  weak 
ness.  By  and  by  from  the  surging,  roar 
ing  depths  of  the  woods,  there  suddenly 
reverberated  to  him  a  deep  boom  as  of  a 
cannon:  one  of  the  great  trees  —  two- 
forked  at  the  mighty  summit  and  already 
burdened  in  each  half  by  its  tons  of  timber, 
split  in  twain  at  the  fork  as  though  cleft  by 
lightning;  and  now  only  the  pointed  trunk 
stood  like  a  funeral  shaft  above  its  own 
ruins.  For  hours  this  went  on :  the  light 
incessant  rattling,  closest  around ;  the 
creaking,  straining,  tearing  apart  as  of 
suffering  flesh,  less  near;  the  sad,  sublime 
booming  of  the  forest. 

Now  the  man  would  walk  the  floor ;  now 
drop  into  his  chair  before  the  fire.  His 
last  bit  of  candle  flickered  blue,  deep  in 
the  socket,  and  sent  up  its  smoke.  His 


208  The  Reign  of  Law 

wood  was  soon  burnt  out:  only  red  coals 
In  the  bottom  of  the  grate  then,  and  these 
fast  whitening.  More  than  once  he  strode 
across  and  stood  over  his  trunk  in  the 
shadowy  corner  —  looking  down  at  his 
books  —  those  books  that  had  guided  him 
thus  far,  or  misguided  him,  who  can  say? 

When  his  candle  gave  out  and  later  his 
fire,  he  jerked  off  his  clothes  and  getting 
into  bedj  rolled  himself  in  the  bedclothes 
and  lay  listening  to  the  mournful  sublim 
ity  of  the  storm. 

Toward  three  o'clock  the  weather  grew 
colder,  the  wind  died  down,  the  booming 
ceased ;  and  David,  turning  wearily  over, 
with  an  impulse  to  prayer,  but  with  no 
prayer,  went  to  sleep. 

XIV 

WHEN  David  awoke  late  and  drowsily 
the  next  morning  after  the  storm,  he  lay 
awhile,  listening.  No  rending,  crashing, 
booming  in  the  woods  now,  nor  rattling 
of  his  window-frames.  No  contemplative 


The  Reign  of  Law  209 

twitter  of  winter  birds  about  the  cedars  in 
the  yard,  nor  caw  of  crow,  crossing  the 
house  chimneys  toward  the  corn  shocks. 
All  things  hushed,  silent,  immovable. 

Following  so  quickly  upon  the  sublime 
roar  and  ravage  of  the  night  before,  the 
stillness  was  disturbing.  He  sprang  up 
and  dressed  quickly  —  admonished  by  the 
coldness  of  his  room  —  before  hurrying 
to  his  window  to  look  out.  When  he 
tried  the  sash,  it  could  not  be  raised. 
He  thrust  his  hand  through  the  broken 
pane  and  tugged  at  the  shutters;  they 
could  not  be  shaken.  Running  down 
stairs  to  the  kitchen  and  returning  writh 
hot  water,  he  melted  away  the  ice  em 
bedding  the  bolts  and  hinges. 

A  marvel  of  nature,  terrible,  beautiful, 
met  his  eyes :  ice-rain  and  a  great  frost. 
Cloud,  heavy  still,  but  thinner  than  on  the 
day  before,  enwrapped  the  earth.  The 
sun,  descending  through  this  translucent 
roof  of  gray,  filled  the  air  beneath  with  a 
radiance  as  of  molten  pearl ;  and  in  this 
under-atmosphere  of  pearl  all  earthly  things 


2io  The  Reign  of  Law 

were  tipped  and  hung  in  silver.  Tree, 
bush,  and  shrub  in  the  yard  below,  the 
rose  clambering  the  pillars  of  the  porch 
under  his  window,  the  scant  ivy  lower 
down  on  the  house  wall,  the  stiff  little 
junipers,  every  blade  of  grass  —  all  en 
cased  in  silver.  The  ruined  cedars  trailed 
from  sparlike  tops  their  sweeping  sails  of 
incrusted  emerald  and  silver.  Along  the 
eaves,  like  a  row  of  inverted  spears  of 
unequal  lengths,  hung  the  argent  icicles. 
No ;  not  spun  silver  all  this,  but  glass ;  all 
things  buried,  not  under  a  tide  of  liquid 
silver,  but  of  flowing  and  then  cooling 
glass :  Nature  for  once  turned  into  a  glass 
house,  fixed  in  a  brittle  mass,  nowhere 
bending  or  swaying;  but  if  handled 
roughly,  sure  to  be  shivered. 

The  ground  under  every  tree  in  the 
yard  was  strewn  with  boughs ;  what  must 
be  the  ruin  of  the  woods  whence  the 
noises  had  reached  him  in  the  night? 
Looking  out  of  his  window  now,  he  could 
see  enough  to  let  him  understand  the 
havoc,  the  wreckage. 


The  Reign  of  Law  211 

He  went  at  once  to  the  stable  for  the 
feeding   and   found    everything   strangely 
quiet  —  the    stilling  influence   of   a  great 
frost   on   animal    life.     There    had    been 
excitement  and  uneasiness  enough  during 
the    night;    now  ensued  the  reaction,  for 
man  is  but  one  of  the  many  animals  with 
nerves    and    moods.      A   catastrophe  like 
this   which    covers   with  ice   the   earth  — 
grass,  winter  edible  twig  and  leaf,   roots 
and  nuts  for  the  brute  kind  that  turns  the 
soil  with    the    nose,  such    putting   of   all 
food  whatsoever  out  of  reach  of  mouth  or 
hoof   or   snout  — -  brings    these    creatures 
face  to  face  with  the  possibility  of  starv 
ing:    they  know  it   and    are    silent   with 
apprehension  of  their  peril ;  know  it  per 
haps  by  the  survival  of  prehistoric  memo 
ries  reverberating  as  instinct  still.      And 
there  is  another  possible  prong  of  truth  to 
this  repression  of  their  characteristic  cries 
at  such  times  of  frost:  then  it  was  in  ages 
past   that   the    species    which    preyed    on 
them  grew  most  ravenous  and  far  ranging. 
The   silence   of   the  modern  stable   in  a 


212  The  Reign  of  Law 

way  takes  the  place  of  that  primeval 
silence  which  was  a  law  of  safety  in  the 
bleak  fastnesses,  hunted  over  by  flesh- 
eating  prowlers.  It  is  the  prudent  noise- 
lessness  of  many  a  species  to-day,  as  the 
deer  and  the  moose. 

The  sheep,  having  enjoyed  little  shelter 
beside  the  hayrick,  had  encountered  the 
worst  of  the  storm.  When  David  ap 
peared  in  the  stable  lot,  they  beheld  him 
at  once;  for  their  faces  were  bunched 
expectantly  toward  the  yard  gate  through 
which  he  must  emerge.  But  they  spoke 
not  a  word  to  one  another  or  to  him  as 
they  hurried  slipping  forward.  The  man 
looked  them  over  pityingly,  yet  with 
humor;  for  they  wore  many  undesirable 
pendants  of  glass  and  silver  dangling 
under  their  bellies  and  down  their  tails. 

"  You  shall  come  into  the  barn  this 
night,"  he  vowed  within  himself.  "  I'll 
make  a  place  for  you  this  day." 

Little  did  he  foresee  what  awful  sig 
nificance  to  him  lay  wrapped  in  those  sim 
ple  words. 


The  Reign  of  Law  2 1 3 

Breakfast  was  ready  when,  carrying  his 
customary  basket  of  cobs  for  his  mother, 
he  returned  to  the  house.  One  good  result 
at  least  the  storm  had  wrought  for  the  time: 
it  drew  the  members  of  the  household  more 
closely  together,  as  any  unusual  event  — 
danger,  disaster  —  generally  does.  So  that 
his  father,  despite  his  outburst  of  anger 
the  night  previous,  forgot  this  morning 
his  wrongs  and  disappointments  and  re 
laxed  his  severity.  During  the  meal  he 
had  much  to  recount  of  other  sleets  and 
their  consequences.  He  inferred  similar 
consequences  now  if  snow  should  follow, 
or  a  cold  snap  set  in:  no  work  in  the 
fields,  therefore  no  hemp-breaking,  and 
therefore  delay  in  selling  the  crop;  the 
difficulty  of  feeding  and  watering  the  stock ; 
no  hauling  along  the  mud  roads,  and  little 
travel  of  any  sort  between  country  and 
town ;  the  making  of  much  cord  wood 
out  of  the  fallen  timber,  with  plenty  of 
stuff  for  woodpiles ;  the  stopping  of  mill 
wheels  on  the  frozen  creeks,  and  scarcity 
of  flour  and  meal. 


214  The  Reign  of  Law 

"  The  meal  is  nearly  out  now,"  said 
David's  mother.  "  The  negroes  waste  it." 

"  We  might  shell  some  corn  to-day," 
suggested  David's  father,  hesitatingly.  It 
was  the  first  time  since  his  son's  return 
from  college  that  he  had  ever  proposed 
their  working  together. 

"I'll  take  a  look  at  the  woods  first," 
said  David ;  "  and  then  I  want  to  make  a 
place  in  the  stable  for  the  sheep,  father, 
They  must  come  under  shelter  to-night. 
I'll  fix  new  stalls  for  the  horses  inside 
where  we  used  to  have  the  corn  crib.  The 
cows  can  go  where  the  horses  have  been, 
and  the  sheep  can  have  the  shed  of  the 
cows :  it's  better  than  nothing.  I've  been 
wanting  to  do  this  ever  since  I  came  home 
from  college." 

A  thoughtless,  unfortunate  remark,  as 
connected  with  that  shabby,  desperate  idea 
of  finding  shelter  for  the  stock  —  fresh 
reminder  of  the  creeping,  spreading  pov 
erty.  His  father  made  no  rejoinder;  and 
having  finished  his  breakfast  in  silence, 
left  the  table. 


The  Reign  of  Law  2 1 5 

His  mother,  looking  across  her  coffee- 
cup  and  biscuit  at  David,  without  change 
of  expression  inquired,  - 

"  Will  you  get  that  hen  ?  " 

"  What  hen,  mother  ?  " 

"  I  told  you  last  night  the  cook  wanted 
one  of  the  old  hens  for  soup  to-day0  Will 
you  get  it  ?  " 

"  No,  mother ;  I  will  not  get  the  hen  for 
the  cook ;  the  cook  will  probably  get  the 
hen  for  me." 

'•  She  doesn't  know  the  right  one." 

"  But  neither  do  I." 

"  I  want  the  blue  dorking." 

"  I  have  a  bad  eye  for  color ;  I  might 
catch  something  gray." 

"  I  want  the  dorking ;  she's  stopped  lay 
ing." 

"  Is  that  your  motive  for  taking  her 
life  ?  It  would  be  a  terrible  principle  to 
apply  indiscriminately ! " 

"  The  cook  wants  to  know  how  she  is 
to  get  the  vegetables  out  of  the  holes  in 
the  garden  to-day  —  under  all  this  ice." 

"  How  would  she  get  the  vegetables  out 


216  The  Reign  of  Law 

of  the  garden  under  all  this  ice  if  there 
were  no  one  on  the  place  but  herself?  I 
warrant  you  she'd  have  every  variety.'' 

"  It's  a  pity  we  are  not  able  to  hire  a 
man.  If  we  could  hire  a  man  to  help 
her,  I  wouldn't  ask  you.  It's  hard  on 
the  cook,  to  make  her  suffer  for  our 
poverty." 

"  A  little  suffering  in  that  way  will  do 
her  a  world  of  good,3'  said  David,  cheerily. 

His  mother  did  not  hesitate,  provocation 
or  no  provocation,  to  sting  and  reproach 
him  in  this  way. 

She  had  never  thought  very  highly  of 
her  son ;  her  disappointment,  therefore, 
over  his  failure  at  college  had  not  been 
keen.  Besides,  tragical  suffering  is  the 
sublime  privilege  of  deep  natures :  she 
escaped  by  smallness.  Nothing  would 
have  made  her  very  miserable  but  hunger 
and  bodily  pains.  Against  hunger  she 
exercised  ceaseless  precautions ;  bodily 
pains  she  had  none.  The  one  other  thing 
that  could  have  agitated  her  profoundly 
was  the  idea  that  she  would  be  compelled 


The  Reign  of  Law  217 

to  leave  Kentucky.  It  was  hard  for  her 
to  move  about  her  house,  much  less  move 
to  Missouri.  Not  in  months  perhaps  did 
she  even  go  upstairs  to  bestow  care  upon 
the  closets,  the  bed,  the  comforts  of  he? 
son.  As  might  be  expected,  she  consid 
ered  herself  the  superior  person  of  the 
family ;  and  as  often  happens,  she  imposed 
this  estimate  of  herself  upon  her  husband. 
The  terrifying  vanity  and  self-sufficiency 
of  the  little-minded!  Nature  must  set 
great  store  upon  this  type  of  human 
being,  since  it  is  regularly  allowed  to  rule 
its  betters. 

But  his  father !  David  had  been  at 
home  two  months  now,  for  this  was  the 
last  of  February,  and  not  once  during 
that  long  ordeal  of  daily  living  together 
had  his  father  opened  his  lips  either  to 
reproach  or  question  him. 

Letters  had  been  received  from  the  fac 
ulty,  from  the  pastor ;  of  that  David  was 
aware ;  but  any  conversation  as  to  these 
or  as  to  the  events  of  which  they  were  the 
sad  consummation,  his  father  would  not 


218  The  Reign  of  Law 

have.     The  gulf  between  them  had  been 
wide  before  ;  now  it  was  fathomless. 

Yet  David  well  foreknew  that  the  hour 
of  reckoning  had  to  come,  when  all  that 
was  being  held  back  would  be  uttered.  He 
realized  that  both  were  silently  making 
preparations  for  that  crisis,  and  that  each 
day  brought  it  palpably  nearer.  Some 
times  he  could  even  see  it  threatening  in 
his  father's  eye,  hear  it  in  his  voice.  It  had 
reached  the  verge  of  explosion  the  night 
previous,  with  that  prediction  of  coming 
bankruptcy,  the  selling  of  the  farm  of  his 
Kentucky  ancestors,  the  removal  to  Mis 
souri  in  his  enfeebled  health.  Not  until 
his  return  had  David  realized  how  literally 
his  father  had  begun  to  build  life  anew  on 
the  hopes  of  him.  And  now  feel  with  him 
in  his  disappointment  as  deeply  as  he 
might,  sympathy  he  could  not  openly 
offer,  explanation  he  could  not  possibly 
give.  His  life-problem  was  not  his  fa 
ther's  problem  ;  his  father  was  simply  not 
in  a  position  to  understand.  Doubt  any 
thing  in  the  Bible  —  doubt  so-called  ortho- 


The  Reign  of  Law  219 

dox  Christianity  —  be  expelled  from  the 
church  and  from  college  for  such  a  reason 
-  where  could  his  father  find  patience  or 
mercy  for  wilful  folly  and  impiety  like 
that? 

Meantime  he  had  gone  to  work ;  on  the 
very  day  after  his  return  he  had  gone  to 
work.  Two  sentences  of  his  father's,  on 
the  afternoon  of  his  coming  home,  had 
rung  in  David's  ears  loud  and  ceaselessly 
ever  since :  "  Why  have  you  come  back 
here  ?"  And  "  /  always  knew  there  was 
nothing  in  you  !  "  The  first  assured  him 
of  the  new  footing  on  which  he  stood : 
he  was  no  longer  desired  under  that  roof. 
The  second  summed  up  the  life-long  esti 
mate  which  had  been  formed  of  his  char 
acter  before  he  had  gone  away. 

Therefore  he  had  worked  as  never  even 
in  the  old  preparatory  days.  So  long  as 
he  remained  there,  he  must  at  least  earn 
daily  bread.  More  than  that,  he  must 
make  good,  as  soon  as  possible,  the  money 
spent  at  college.  So  he  sent  away  the 
hired  negro  man ;  he  undertook  the  work 


22O  The  Reign  of  Law 

done  by  him  and  more :  the  care  of  the 
stock,  the  wood  cutting,  everything  that  a 
man  can  be  required  to  do  on  a  farm  in 
winter.  Of  bright  days  he  broke  hemp. 
Nothing  had  touched  David  so  deeply  as 
the  discovery  in  one  corner  of  the  farm  of 
that  field  of  hemp :  his  father  had  secretly 
raised  it  to  be  a  surprise  to  him,  to  help 
him  through  his  ministerial  studies.  This 
David  had  learned  from  his  mother;  his 
father  had  avoided  mention  of  it :  it  might 
rot  in  the  field !  In  equal  silence  David 
had  set  about  breaking  it ;  and  sometimes 
at  night  his  father  would  show  enough 
interest  merely  to  ask  some  questions 
regarding  the  day's  work. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  this  impending 
tragedy  with  his  father,  and  distress  at 
their  reduced  circumstances  caused  by  his 
expenses  at  college,  David,  during  these 
two  months,  had  entered  into  much  new 
happiness. 

The  doubts  which  had  racked  him  for 
many  months  were  ended.  He  had  reached 
a  decision  not  to  enter  the  ministry ;  had 


The  Reign  of  Law  221 

stripped  his  mind  clean  and  clear  of  dog 
mas.  The  theologies  of  his  day,  vast, 
tangled  thickets  of  thorns  overspreading 
the  simple  footpath  of  the-  pious  pilgrim 
mind,  interfered  with  him  no  more.  It 
was  not  now  necessary  for  him  to  think  or 
preach  that  any  particular  church  with 
which  he  might  identify  himself  was  right, 
the  rest  of  the  human  race  wrong.  He 
did  not  now  have  to  believe  that  any  soul 
was  in  danger  of  eternal  damnation  for 
disagreeing  with  him.  Release  from  these 
things  left  his  religious  spirit  more  lofty 
and  alive  than  ever. 

For,  moreover,  David  had  set  his  feet  a 
brief  space  on  the  wide  plains  of  living 
knowledge;  he  had  encountered  through 
their  works  many  of  the  great  minds  of 
his  century,  been  reached  by  the  sublime 
thought-movements  of  his  time,  heard 
the  deep  roar  of  the  spirit's  ocean.  Amid 
coarse,  daily  labor  once  more,  amid  the 
penury  and  discord  in  that  ruined  farm 
house,  one  true  secret  of  happiness  with 
David  was  the  recollection  of  all  the  noble 


222  The  Reign  of  Law 

things  of  human  life  which  he  had  discov 
ered,  and  to  which  he  meant  to  work  his 
way  again  as  soon  as  possible.  And  what 
so  helps  one  to  believe  in  God  as  knowl 
edge  of  the  greatness  of  man  ? 

Meantime,  also,  his  mind  was  kept 
freshly  and  powerfully  exercised.  He  had 
discarded  his  old  way  of  looking  at  Nature 
and  man's  place  in  it;  and  of  this  funda 
mental  change  in  him,  no  better  proof 
could  be  given  than  the  way  in  which  he 
regarded  the  storm,  as  he  left  the  breakfast- 
table  this  morning  and  went  to  the  woods. 

The  damage  was  unreckonable.  The 
trees  had  not  been  prepared  against  an 
event  like  that.  For  centuries  some  of 
them  had  developed  strength  in  root  and 
trunk  and  branch  to  resist  the  winds  of  the 
region  when  clad  in  all  their  leaves ;  or  to 
carry  the  load  of  these  leaves  weighted  with 
raindrops ;  or  to  bear  the  winter  snows. 
Wise  self -physicians  of  the  forest!  Re 
moving  a  weak  or  useless  limb,  healing 
their  own  wounds  and  fractures !  But  to 
be  buried  under  ice  and  then  wrenched 


The  Reign  of  Law  223 

and  twisted  by  the  blast  —  for  this  they 
had  received  no  training:  and  thus,  like 
so  many  of  the  great  prudent  ones  who 
look  hourly  to  their  well-being,  they  had 
been  stricken  down  at  last  by  the  un 
expected. 

"  Once,"  said  David  reverently  to  him 
self,  beholding  it  all,  "  once  I  should  have 
seen  in  this  storm  some  direct  intention 
of  the  Creator  toward  man,  even  toward 
me.  It  would  have  been  a  reminder  of 
His  power;  perhaps  been  a  chastisement 
for  some  good  end  which  I  must  believe 
in,  but  could  not  discover.  Men  certainly 
once  interpreted  storms  as  communications 
from  the  Almighty,  as  they  did  pestilence 
and  famine.  There  still  may  be  in  this 
neighborhood  people  who  will  derive  some 
such  lesson  from  this.  My  father  may  in 
his  heart  believe  it  a  judgment  sent  on 
us  and  on  our  neighbors  for  my  impiety. 
Have  not  cities  been  afflicted  on  account 
of  the  presence  of  one  sinner  ?  Thankful 
I  am  not  to  think  in  this  way  now  of  physi 
cal  law  —  not  so  to  misconceive  maiiV 


224  The  Reign  of  Law 

place  in  Nature.  I  know  that  this  sleet,  so 
important  to  us,  is  but  one  small  incident 
In  the  long  history  of  the  planet's  atmos 
phere  and  changing  surface.  It  is  the 
action  of  natural  laws,  operating  without 
regard  to  man,  though  man  himself  may 
have  had  a  share  in  producing  it.  It 
will  bring  death  to  many  a  creature ;  in 
directly,  it  may  bring  death  to  me;  but 
that  would  be  among  the  results,  not  in 
the  intention." 

He  set  his  face  to  cross  the  wood — slid 
ing,  skating,  steadying  himself  against  the 
trunks,  driving  his  heels  through  the  ice 
crust.  The  exercise  was  heating;  his 
breath  rose  as  a  steam  before  his  face. 
Beyond  the  woods  he  crossed  a  field ; 
then  a  forest  of  many  acres  and  magnifi 
cent  timber,  on  the  far  edge  of  which, 
under  the  forest  trees  and  fronting  a 
country  lane,  stood  the  schoolhouse  of  the 
district.  David  looked  anxiously,  as  he 
drew  near,  for  any  signs  of  injury  that  the 
storm  might  have  done.  One  enormous 
tree-top  had  fallen  on  the  fence.  A  limb 


The  Reign  of  Law  225 

had  dropped  sheer  on  the  steps.  The 
entire  yard  was  little  better  than  a  brush 
heap.  He  soon  turned  away  home  re 
lieved  :  he  would  be  able  to  tell  Gabriella 
to-night  that  none  of  the  windows  had 
been  broken  nor  the  roof;  only  a  new 
woods  scholar,  with  little  feet  and  a  big 
hard  head  and  a  bunch  of  mistletoe  in  one 
hand,  was  standing  on  the  steps,  waiting 
for  her  to  open  the  door. 

David's  college  experience  had  effected 
the  first  great  change  in  him  as  he  passed 
from  youth  to  manhood ;  Gabriella  had 
wrought  the  second.  The  former  was  a 
fragment  of  the  drama  of  man's  soul  with 
God ;  the  latter  was  the  drama  of  his 
heart  with  woman. 

It  had  begun  the  day  the  former  ended 
—  in  the  gloom  of  that  winter  twilight  day, 
when  he  had  quit  the  college  after  his 
final  interview  with  the  faculty,  and  had 
wandered  forlorn  and  dazed  into  the  happy 
town,  just  commencing  to  celebrate  its 
season  of  peace  on  earth  and  good  will  to 
man,  He  had  found  her  given  up  heart 
Q 


226  The  Reign  of  Law 

and  soul  to  the  work  of  decorating  the 
church  of  her  faith,  the  church  of  her 
fathers. 

When  David  met  her  the  second  time, 
it  was  a  few  days  after  his  return  home. 
He  was  at  work  in  the  smoke-house.  The 
meat  had  been  salted  down  long  enough 
after  the  killing :  it  must  be  hung,  and 
he  was  engaged  in  hanging  it.  Several 
pieces  lay  piled  inside  the  door  suitably 
for  the  hand.  He  stood  with  his  back 
to  these  beside  the  meat  bench,  scrap 
ing  the  saltpetre  off  a  large  middling 
and  rubbing  it  with  red  pepper.  Sud 
denly  the  light  of  the  small  doorway 
failed ;  and  turning  he  beheld  his  mother, 
and  a  few  feet  behind  her  —  David  said  that 
he  did  not  believe  in  miracles  —  but  a  few 
feet  behind  his  mother  there  now  stood  a 
divine  presence.  Believe  it  or  not,  there 
she  was,  the  miracle  !  All  the  bashfulness 
of  his  lifetime  —  it  had  often  made  existence 
well-nigh  insupportable  —  came  crowd 
ing  into  that  one  moment.  The  feeblest 
little  bleat  of  a  spring  lamb  too  weak  to 


The  Reign  of  Law  227 

stand  up  for  the  first  time  would  have  been 
a  deafening  roar  in  comparison  with  the 
silence  which  now  penetrated  to  the  mar« 
row  of  his  bones.  He  faced  the  two 
women  at  bay,  with  one  hand  resting  on 
the  middling. 

"  This  is  my  son,"  said  his  mother  neu 
trally,  turning  to  the  young  lady.  This 
information  did  not  help  David  at  all. 
He  knew  who  he  was.  He  took  it  for 
granted  that  every  one  present  knew. 
The  visitor  at  once  relieved  the  situation 

"  This  is  the  school-teacher,"  she  said, 
coloring  and  smiling.  "  I  have  been  teach 
ing  here  ever  since  you  went  away.  And 
I  am  now  an  old  resident  of  this  neigh 
borhood." 

Not  a  thing  moved  about  David  except 
a  little  smoke  in  the  chimney  of  his  throat 
But  the  young  lady  did  not  wait  for  more 
silence  to  render  things  more  tense.  She 
stepped  forward  into  the  doorway  beside 
his  mother  and  peered  curiously  in,  look 
ing  up  at  the  smoke-blackened  ioists,  at 
the  black  cross  sticks  on  which  the  links 


228  The  Reign  of  Law 

of  sausages  were  hung,  at  the  little  heap 
of  gray  ashes  in  the  ground  underneath 
with  a  ring  of  half-burnt  chips  around 
them,  at  the  huge  meat  bench  piled  with 
salted  joints. 

"  And  this  is  the  way  you  make  mid 
dlings  ? "  she  inquired,  smiling  at  him 
encouragingly. 

The  idea  of  that  archangel  knowing 
anything  about  middlings  !  David's  mind 
executed  a  rudimentary  movement,  and 
his  tongue  and  lips  responded  feebly :  — 

"  This  is  the  way." 

"  And  this  is  the  way  you  make  hams, 
sugar-cured  hams  ? " 

"  This  is  the  way." 

"And  this  is  the  way  you  make  — 
shoulders  ?  " 

"  This  is  the  way." 

David  had  found  an  answer,  and  he  was 
going  to  abide  by  it  while  strength  and 
daylight  lasted. 

The  young  lady  seemed  to  perceive 
that  this  was  his  intention. 

"  Let  me  see  you  hang  one,"  she  said 


The  Reign  of  Law  229 

desperately.  "  I  have  never  seen  bacon 
hanged — or  hung.  I  suppose  as  I  teach 
grammar,  I  must  use  both  participles." 

David  caught  up  the  huge  middling  by 
the  string  and  swung  it  around  in  front 
of  him,  whereupon  it  slipped  out  of  his 
nerveless  fingers  and  fell  over  in  the  ashes. 
It  did  not  break  the  middling,  but  it  broke 
the  ice. 

"  Can  I  help  you  ?  " 

Those  torturing,  blistering  words !  Da 
vid's  face  got  as  red  as  though  it  had 
been  rubbed  with  red  pepper  and  saltpetre 
both.  The  flame  of  it  seemed  to  kindle 
some  faint  spark  of  spirit  in  him.  He 
picked  up  the  middling,  and  as  he  looked 
her  squarely  in  the  eye,  with  a  humorous 
light  in  his,  he  nodded  at  the  pieces  of 
bacon  by  the  entrance. 

"  Hang  one  of  those,"  he  said,  "  if  you've 
a  mind." 

As  he  lifted  the  middling  high,  Gabri- 
ella  noticed  above  his  big  red  hands  a 
pair  of  arms  like  marble  for  lustre  and 
whiteness  (for  he  had  his  sleeves  rolled 


230  The  Reign  of  Law 

far  back)  —  as  massive  a  pair  of  man's  arms 
as  ever  were  formed  by  life-long  health  and 
a  life-long  labor  and  life-long  right  living. 

"  Thank  you,"  she  said,  retreating 
through  the  door.  "  It's  all  very  interest 
ing.  I  have  never  lived  in  the  country 
before.  Your  mother  told  me  you  were 
working  here,  and  I  asked  her  to  let  me 
come  and  look  on.  While  I  have  been 
living  in  your  neighborhood,  you  have 
been  living  in  my  town.  I  hope  you  will 
come  to  see  me,  and  tell  me  a  great  deal." 

As  she  said  this,  David  perceived  that 
she,  standing  behind  his  mother,  looked 
at  him  with  the  veiled  intention  of  saying 
far  more.  He  had  such  an  instinct  for 
truth  himself,  that  truth  in  others  was  bare 
to  him.  Those  gentle,  sympathetic  eyes 
seemed  to  declare :  "  I  know  about  your 
troubles.  I  am  the  person  for  whom,  with 
out  knowing  it,  you  have  been  looking. 
With  me  you  can  break  silence  about  the 
great  things.  We  can  meet  far  above  the 
level  of  such  poor  scenes  as  this.  I  have 
sought  you  to  tell  you  this.  Come." 


The  Reign  of  Law  231 

<c  Mother,"  said  David  that  evening,  after 
his  father  had  left  the  table,  dropping  his 
knife  and  fork  and  forgetting  to  eat,  "  who 
was  that  ?  " 

He  drew  out  all  that  could  be  drawn : 
that  she  had  come  to  take  charge  of  the 
school  the  autumn  he  had  gone  away ;  that 
she  was  liked  as  a  teacher,  liked  by  the  old 
people.  She  had  taken  great  interest  in 
him,  his  mother  said  reproachfully,  and  the 
idea  of  his  studying  for  the  ministry.  She 
had  often  visited  the  house,  had  been  good 
to  his  father  and  to  her.  This  was  her 
first  visit  since  she  had  gotten  back ;  she 
had  been  in  town  spending  the  holidays. 

David  had  begun  to  go  to  see  Gabriella 
within  a  week.  At  first  he  went  once  a 
week  —  on  Saturday  nights.  Soon  he 
went  twice  a  week  -  -  Wednesdays  and 
Saturdays  invariably.  On  that  last  day  at 
college,  when  he  had  spoken  out  for  him 
self,  he  had  ended  the  student  and  the 
youth ;  when  he  met  her,  it  was  the  begin 
ning  of  the  man :  and  the  new  reason  of 
the  man's  happiness. 


232  The  Reign  of  Law 

As  he  now  returned  home  across  the 
mile  or  more  of  country,  having  satisfied 
himself  as  to  the  uninjured  condition  of 
the  schoolhouse,  which  had  a  great  deal 
to  do  with  Gabriella's  remaining  in  that; 
neighborhood,  he  renewed  his  resolve  to 
go  to  see  her  to-night,  though  it  was  only 
Friday.  Had  not  the  storm  upset  all  reg 
ular  laws  and  customs  ? 

Happily,  then,  on  reaching  the  stable, 
he  fell  to  work  upon  his  plan  of  providing 
a  shelter  for  the  sheep. 

David  felt  much  more  at  home  in  the 
barn  than  at  the  house.  For  the  stock 
saw  no  change  in  him.  Believer  or  unbe 
liever,  rationalist,  evolutionist,  he  was  still 
the  same  to  them.  Upon  them,  in  reality, 
fell  the  ill  consequences  of  his  misspent  or 
well-spent  college  life  ;  for  the  money  which 
might  have  gone  for  shingles  and  joists 
and  more  provender,  had  in  part  been 
spent  on  books  describing  the  fauna  of 
the  earth  and  the  distribution  of  species  on 
its  surface.  Some  had  gone  for  treatises 
on  animals  under  domestication,  while  his 


The  Reign  of  Law  233 

own  animals  under  domestication  were  al 
lowed  to  go  poorly  fed  and  worse  housedc 
He  had  had  the  theory ;  they  had  had  the 
practice.  But  they  apprehended  nothing 
of  all  this.  How  many  tragedies  of  evil 
passion  brutes  escape  by  not  understanding 
their  owners !  We  of  the  human  species 
so  often  regret  that  individuals  read  each 
other's  natures  so  dimly :  let  us  be  thank 
ful  !  David  was  glad,  then,  that  this  little 
aggregation  of  dependent  creatures,  his 
congregation  of  the  faithful,  neither  per 
ceived  the  change  in  him,  nor  were  kept 
in  suspense  by  the  tragedy  growing  at  the 
house. 

They  had  been  glad  to  see  him  on 
his  return.  Captain,  who  had  met  him 
first,  was  gladdest,  perhaps.  Then  the 
horses,  the  same  old  ones.  One  of  them, 
he  fancied,  had  backed  up  to  him,  offer 
ing  a  ride.  And  the  cows  were  friendly. 
They  were  the  same  ;  their  calves  were  dif 
ferent.  The  sheep  about  maintained  their 
number,  their  increase  by  nature  nearly 
balancing  their  decrease  by  table  use. 


234  The  Reign  of  Law 

One  member  of  the  flock  David  looked 
for  in  vain :  the  boldest,  gentlest  —  there 
usually  is  one  such.  Later  on  he  found  it 
represented  by  a  saddle  blanket.  After 
his  departure  for  college,  his  mother  had 
conceived  of  this  fine  young  wether  in 
terms  of  sweetbreads,  tallow  for  chapped 
noses,  and  a  soft  seat  for  the  spine  of  her 
husband.  Even  the  larded  dame  of  the 
snow-white  sucklings  had  remembered  him 
well,  and  had  touched  her  snout  against 
his  boots ;  so  that  hardly  had  he  in  the 
old  way  begun  to  stroke  her  bristles,  before 
she  spoke  comfortably  of  her  joy,  and  rolled 
heavily  over  in  what  looked  like  a  grateful 
swoon. 

No:  his  animals  had  not  changed  in 
their  feelings  toward  him;  but  how  altered 
he  in  his  understanding  of  them !  He  had 
formerly  believed  that  these  creatures 
were  created  for  the  use  of  man — -that  old 
conceited  notion  that  the  entire  earth  was 
a  planet  of  provisions  for  human  consump 
tion.  It  had  never  even  occurred  to  him 
to  think  that  the  horses  were  made  but  to 


The  Reign  of  Law  235 

ride  and  to  work.  Cows  of  course  gave 
milk  for  the  sake  of  the  dairy ;  cream  rose 
on  milk  for  ease  in  skimming;  when 
churned,  it  turned  sour,  that  the  family 
might  have  fresh  buttermilk.  Hides  were 
for  shoes.  The  skin  on  sheep,  it  was  put 
there  for  Man's  woollens. 

Now  David  declared  that  these  beings 
were  no  more  made  for  Man  than  Man 
was  made  for  them.  Man  might  capture 
them,  keep  them  in  captivity,  break,  train, 
use,  devour  them,  occasionally  exterminate 
them  by  benevolent  assimilation.  But 
this  was  not  the  reason  of  their  being 
created:  what  that  reason  was  in  the 
Creator's  mind,  no  one  knew  or  would 
ever  know. 

"  Man  seizes  and  uses  you,"  said  David, 
working  that  day  in  his  barn ;  "  but  you 
are  no  more  his  than  he  is  yours.  He 
calls  you  dependent  creatures :  who  has 
made  you  dependent  ?  In  a  state  of  wild 
nature,  there  is  not  one  of  you  that  Man 
would  dare  meet:  not  the  wild  stallion, 
not  the  wild  bull,  not  the  wild  boar,  not 


236  The  Reign  of  Law 

even  an  angry  ram.  The  argument  that 
Man's  whole  physical  constitution  —  struc 
ture  and  function — shows  that  he  was 
intended  to  live  on  beef  and  mutton,  is  no 
better  than  the  argument  that  the  tiger 
finds  man  perfectly  adapted  to  his  system 
as  a  food,  and  desires  none  better.  Every 
man-eating  creature  thinks  the  same :  the 
wolf  believes  Man  to  be  his  prey  ;  the  croc 
odile  believes  him  to  be  his  ;  an  old  lion 
is  probably  sure  that  a  man's  young  wife  is 
designed  for  his  maw  alone.  So  she  is,  if 
he  manages  to  catch  her." 

As  David  said  this  rather  unexpectedly 
to  himself,  he  fell  into  a  novel  revery,  for 
getting  philosophy  and  brute  kind. 

It  was  late  when  David  finished  his 
work  that  day.  Toward  nightfall  the 
cloud  had  parted  in  the  west;  the  sun  had 
gone  down  with  dark  curtains  closing 
heavily  over  it.  Later,  the  cloud  had 
parted  in  the  east,  and  the  moon  had 
arisen  amid  white  fleeces  and  floated  above 
banks  of  pearl.  Shining  upon  all  splendid 
things  else,  it  illumined  one  poor  scene 


The  Reign  of  Law  237 

which  must  not  be  forgotten:  the  rear  of 
an  old  barn,  a  sagging  roof  of  rotting 
shingles;  a  few  common  sheep  passing 
in,  driven  by  a  shepherd  dog;  and  a 
big  thoughtful  man  holding  the  door 
open. 

He  had  shifted  the  stock  to  make  way 
for  these  additional  pensioners,  putting  the 
horses  into  the  new  stalls,  the  cows  where 
the  horses  had  been,  and  the  sheep  under 
the  shed  of  the  cows.  (It  is  the  horse  that 
always  gets  the  best  of  everything  in  a 
stable.)  He  reproached  himself  that  he 
did  least  for  the  creatures  that  demanded 
least. 

"  That's  the  nature  of  man,"  he  said  dis 
approvingly,  "  topmost  of  all  brutes." 

When  he  stepped  out  of  doors  after  sup 
per  that  night,  the  clouds  had  hidden  the 
moon.  But  there  was  light  enough  for 
him  to  see  his  way  across  the  ice  fields  to 
Gabriella.  The  Star  of  Love  shone  about 
his  feet 


238  The  Reign  of  Law 


XV 

WHEN  Gabriella  awoke  on  that  same 
morning  after  the  storm,  she  too  ascer 
tained  that  her  shutters  could  not  be 
opened.  But  Gabriella  did  not  go  down 
into  the  kitchen  for  hot  water  to  melt  the 
ice  from  the  bolts  and  hinges.  She  fled 
back  across  the  cold  matting  to  the  high- 
posted  big  bed  and  cuddled  down  solitary 
into  its  warmth  again,  tucking  the  counter 
pane  under  her  chin  and  looking  out  from 
the  pillows  with  eyes  as  fresh  as  flowers. 
Flowers  in  truth  Gabriella's  eyes  were  — 
the  closing  and  disclosing  blossoms  of  a 
sweet  nature.  Somehow  they  made  you 
think  of  earliest  spring,  of  young  leaves, 
of  the  flutings  of  birds  deep  within  a  glade 
sifted  with  golden  light,  fragrant  with  white 
fragrance.  They  had  their  other  seasons : 
their  summer  hours  of  angry  flash  and 
swift  downpour ;  their  autumn  days  of  still 
depths  and  soberness,  and  autumn  nights 
of  long,  quiet  rainfalls  when  no  one  knew. 


The  Reign  of  Law  239 

One  season  they  lacked :  Gabriella's  eyes 
had  no  winter. 

Brave  spirit !  Had  nature  not  inclined 
her  to  spring  rather  than  autumn,  had  she 
not  inherited  joyousness  and  the  tempera 
mental  gayety  of  the  well-born,  she  must 
long  ago  have  failed,  broken  down.  Be 
hind  her  were  generations  of  fathers  and 
mothers  who  had  laughed  heartily  all  their 
days.  The  simple  gift  of  wholesome 
laughter,  often  the  best  as  often  the  only 
remedy  for  so  many  discomforts  and  ab 
surdities  in  life  —  this  was  perhaps  to  be 
accounted  among  her  best  psychological 
heirlooms. 

Her  first  thought  on  awaking  late  this 
morning  (for  she  too  had  been  kept  awake 
by  the  storm)  was  that  there  could  be  no 
school.  And  this  was  only  Friday,  with 
Saturday  and  Sunday  to  follow  —  three 
whole  consecutive  days  of  holiday !  Ga 
briella's  spirits  invariably  rose  in  a  storm ; 
her  darkest  days  were  her  brightest.  The 
weather  that  tried  her  soul  was  the  weather 
which  was  disagreeable,  but  not  disagree- 


240  The  Reign  of  Law 

able  enough  to  break  up  school.  When 
she  taught,  she  taught  with  all  her  powers 
and  did  it  well ;  when  not  teaching,  she 
hated  it  with  every  faculty  and  capacity 
of  her  being.  And  to  discharge  patiently 
and  thoroughly  a  daily  hated  work  —  that 
takes  noble  blood. 

Nothing  in  the  household  stirred  below. 
The  members  of  the  family  had  remained 
up  far  into  the  night.  As  for  the  negroes, 
they  understand  how  to  get  a  certain 
profit  for  themselves  out  of  all  disturb 
ances  of  the  weather.  Gabriella  was  glad 
of  the  chance  to  wait  for  the  house-girl  to 
come  up  and  kindle  her  fire  —  grateful  for 
the  luxury  of  lying  in  bed  on  Friday  morn 
ing,  instead  of  getting  up  to  a  farmer's 
early  breakfast,  when  sometimes  there 
were  candles  on  the  table  to  reveal  the  local 
ities  of  the  food !  How  she  hated  those 
candles,  flaring  in  her  eyes  so  early! 
How  she  loved  the  mellow  flicker  of  them 
at  night,  and  how  she  hated  them  in  the 
morning  —  those  early-breakfast  candles  ! 

In  high  spirits,  then,  with  the  certainty 


The  Reign  of  Law  241 

of  a  late  breakfast  and  no  school,  she  now 
lay  on  the  pillows,  looking  across  with 
sparkling  eyes  at  last  night's  little  gray 
ridge  of  ashes  under  the  bars  of  her  small 
grate.  Those  hearthstones  !  —  when  her 
bare  soles  accidentally  touched  one  on  win 
ter  mornings,  Gabriella  was  of  the  opinion 
that  they  were  the  coldest  bricks  that  ever 
came  from  a  fiery  furnace.  There  was 
one  thing  in  the  room  still  colder:  the 
little  cherrywood  washstand  away  over  on 
the  other  side  of  the  big  room  between 
the  windows,  —  placed  there  at  the  greatest 
possible  distance  from  the  fire !  Some 
times  when  she  peeped  down  into  her 
wash-pitcher  of  mornings,  the  ice  bulged 
up  at  her  like  a  white  cannon-ball  that 
had  gotten  lodged  on  the  way  out.  She 
jabbed  at  it  with  the  handle  of  her  tooth 
brush  ;  or,  if  her  temper  got  the  best  of 
her  (or  the  worst),  with  the  poker.  Often 
her  last  act  at  night  was  to  dry  her  tooth 
brush  over  the  embers  so  that  the  hair  in 
it  would  not  be  frozen  in  the  morning. 
Gabriella  raised  her  head  from  the  pil- 


242  The  Reign  of  Law 

lows  and  peeped  over  at  the  counterpane 
covering  her.  It  consisted  of  stripes  of 
different  colors,  starting  from  a  point  at 
the  middle  of  the  structure  and  widening 
toward  the  four  sides.  Her  feet  were 
tucked  away  under  a  bank  of  plum  color 
sprinkled  with  salt;  up  her  back  ran  a 
sort  of  comet's  tail  of  puddled  green. 
Over  her  shoulder  and  descending  toward 
her  chin,  flowed  a  broadening  delta  of 
well-beaten  egg. 

She  was  thankful  for  these  colors.  The 
favorite  hue  of  the  farmer's  wife  was  lead. 
Those  hearthstones  —  lead  !  The  strip  of 
oilcloth  covering  the  washstand  • — lead! 
The  closet  in  the  wall  containing  her 
things  —  lead  !  The  stair-steps  outside  — • 
lead !  The  porches  down  below  —  lead  ! 
Gabriella  sometimes  wondered  whether 
this  woman  might  not  have  had  lead- 
colored  ancestors. 

A  pair  of  recalcitrant  feet  were  now 
heard  mounting  the  stair:  the  flowers 
on  the  pillow  closed  their  petals.  When 
the  negro  girl  knelt  down  before  the 


The  Reign  of  Law  243 

grate,  with  her  back  to  the  bed  and  the 
soles  of  her  shoes  set  up  straight  side  by  side 
like  two  gray  bricks,  the  eyes  were  softly 
opened  again.  Gabriella  had  never  seen  a 
head  like  this  negro  girl's,  that  is,  never 
until  the  autumn  before  last,  when  she  had 
come  out  into  this  neighborhood  of  plain 
farming  people  to  teach  a  district  school. 
Whenever  she  was  awake  early  enough  to 
see  this  curiosity,  she  never  failed  to  renew 
her  study  of  it  with  unflagging  zest.  It 
was  such  a  mysterious,  careful  arrangement 
of  knots,  and  pine  cones,  and  the  strangest- 
looking  little  black  sticks  wrapped  with 
white  packing  thread,  and  the  whole  sys 
tem  of  coils  seemingly  connected  with  a 
central  mental  battery,  or  idea,  or  plan, 
within.  She  studied  it  now,  as  the  fire 
was  being  kindled,  and  the  kindler,  with 
inflammatory  blows  of  the  poker  on  the 
bars  of  the  grate,  told  her  troubles  over 
audibly  to  herself :  "  Set  free,  and  still 
making  fires  of  winter  mornings;  how 
was  that?  Where  was  any  freedom  in 
that?  Her  wages?  Didn't  she  work  for 


244  The  Reign  of  Law 

her  wages  ?     Didn't  she  earn  her  wages  ? 
Then  where  did  freedom  come  in  ? " 

One  must  look  low  for  high  truth  some 
times,  as  we  gather  necessary  fruit  on 
nethermost  boughs  and  dig  the  dirt  for 
treasure.  The  Anglo-Saxon  girl  lying  in 
the  bed  and  the  young  African  girl  kin 
dling  her  fire  —  these  two,  the  highest  and 
the  humblest  types  of  womanhood  in  the 
American  republic  — were  inseparably  con 
nected  in  that  room  that  morning  as  chil 
dren  of  the  same  Revolution.  It  had  cost 
the  war  of  the  Union,  to  enable  this  African 
girl  to  cast  away  the  cloth  enveloping  her 
head  —  that  detested  sign  of  her  slavery  — 
and  to  arrange  her  hair  with  ancestral  taste, 
the  true  African  beauty  sense.  As  long 
as  she  had  been  a  slave,  she  had  been  com 
pelled  by  her  Anglo-Saxon  mistress  to 
wear  her  head-handkerchief;  as  soon  as 
she  was  set  free,  she,  with  all  the  women 
of  her  race  in  the  South,  tore  the  head- 
handkerchief  indignantly  off.  In  the  same 
way,  it  cost  the  war  of  the  Union  to  enable 
Gabriella  to  teach  school.  She  had  been 


The  Reign  of  Law  245 

set  free  also,  and  the  bandage  removed 
from  her  liberties.  The  negress  had  been 
empowered  to  demand  wages  for  her  toil ; 
the  Anglo-Saxon  girl  had  been  empowered 
to  accept  without  reproach  the  wages  for 
hers. 

Gabriella's  memoirs  might  be  writ  large 
in  four  parts  that  would  really  be  the 
history  of  the  United  States,  just  as  a 
slender  seam  of  gold  can  only  be  explained 
through  the  geology  of  the  earth.  But 
they  can  also  be  writ  so  small  that  each 
volume  may  be  dropped,  like  certain 
minute-books  of  bygone  fashions,  into  a 
waistcoat  pocket,  or  even  read,  as  through 
a  magnifying  glass,  entire  on  a  single  page. 

The  first  volume  was  the  childhood 
book,  covering  the  period  from  Gabriella's 
birth  to  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War, 
by  which  time  she  was  fourteen  years  old : 
it  was  fairy  tale.  These  earliest  recol 
lections  went  back  to  herself  as  a  very 
tiny  child  living  with  her  mother  and 
grandmother  in  a  big  white  house  with 


246  The  Reign  of  Law 

green  window-shutters,  in  Lexington  —  so 
big  that  she  knew  only  the  two  or  three 
rooms  in  one  elL  Her  mother  wore 
mourning  for  her  father,  and  was  always 
drawing  her  to  her  bosom  and  leaving 
tears  on  her  face  or  lilylike  hands.  One 
day  —  she  could  not  remember  very  well 
—  but  the  house  had  been  darkened  and 
the  servants  never  for  a  moment  ceased 
amusing  her  —  one  day  the  house  was  all 
opened  again  and  Gabriella  could  not  find 
her  mother;  and  her  grandmother,  every 
body  else,  was  kinder  to  her  than  ever. 
She  did  not  think  what  kindness  was  then, 
but  years  afterward  she  learned  perfectly. 

Very  slowly  Gabriella's  knowledge  began 
to  extend  over  the  house  and  outside  it. 
There  were  enormous,  high-ceiled  halls 
and  parlors,  and  bedrooms  and  bedrooms 
and  bedrooms.  There  were  verandas 
front  and  back,  so  long  that  it  took  her 
breath  away  to  run  the  length  of  one  and 
return.  Upstairs,  front  and  back,  verandas 
again,  balustraded  so  that  little  girls  could 
not  forget  themselves  and  fall  off.  The 


The  Reign  of  Law  247 

pillars  of  these  verandas  at  the  rear  of  the 
house  were  connected  by  a  network  of 
wires,  and  trained  up  the  pillars  and 
branching  over  the  wires  were  coiling 
twisting  vines  of  wisteria  as  large  as 
Gabriella's  neck.  This  was  the  sunny 
southern  side ;  and  when  the  wisteria  was 
blooming,  Gabriella  moved  her  establish 
ment  of  playthings  out  behind  those  sun 
lit  cascades  of  purple  and  green,  musical 
sometimes  with  goldfinches. 

The  front  of  the  house  faced  a  yard  of 
stately  evergreens  and  great  tubs  of  flowers, 
oleander,  crepe  myrtle,  and  pomegranate. 
Beyond  the  yard,  a  gravelled  carriage  drive 
wound  out  of  sight  behind  cedars,  catalpa, 
and  forest  trees,  shadowing  a  turfy  lawn.  At 
the  end  of  the  lawn  was  the  great  entrance 
gate  and  the  street  of  the  town.  Gabri 
ella  long  knew  this  approach  only  by  her 
drives  with  her  grandmother.  At  the  rear 
of  the  house  was  enough  for  her :  a  large 
yard,  green  grazing  lots  for  the  stable  of 
horses,  and  best  of  all  a  high-fenced  garden 
containing  everything  the  heart  could  de- 


248  The  Reign  of  Law 

sire:  vegetables,  and  flowers;  summer- 
houses,  and  arbors  with  seats ;  pumps  of 
cold  water,  and  hot-houses  of  plants  and 
grapes,  and  fruit  trees,  and  a  swing,  and 
gooseberry  bushes  —  everything. 

In  one  corner,  the  ground  was  too  shaded 
by  an  old  apple  tree  to  be  of  use  :  they  gave 
this  to  Gabriella  for  her  garden.  She  had 
attached  particularly  to  her  person  a  little 
negress  of  about  the  same  age  —  her  Milly, 
the  color  of  a  ripe  gourd.  So  when  in 
spring  the  gardener  began  to  make  his 
garden,  with  her  grandmother  sometimes 
standing  over  him,  directing,  Gabriella, 
taking  her  little  chair  to  the  apple  tree,  — 
with  some  pretended  needle-work  and  a 
real  switch,  —  would  set  Milly  to  work 
making  hers.  Nothing  that  they  put  into 
the  earth  ever  was  heard  of  again,  though 
they  would  sometimes  make  the  same 
garden  over  every  day  for  a  week.  So  that 
more  than  once,  forsaking  seed,  they  pulled 
off  the  tops  of  green  things  near  by,  planted 
these,  and  so  had  a  perfect  garden  in  an 
hour. 


The  Reign  of  Law  249 

Then  Gabriella,  seated  under  the  apple 
tree,  would  order  Milly  to  water  the  flowers 
from  the  pump ;  and  taking  her  switch  and 
calling  Milly  close,  she  would  give  her  a 
sharp  rap  or  two  around  the  bare  legs  (for 
that  was  expected),  and  tell  her  that  if  she 
didn't  stop  being  so  trifling,  she  would  sell 
her  South  to  the  plantations.  Whereupon 
Milly,  injured  more  in  heart  than  legs,  and 
dropping  the  watering-pot,  would  begin  to 
bore  her  dirty  fists  into  her  eyes.  Then 
Gabriella  would  say  repentantly :  — 

"  No,  I  won't,  Milly !  And  you  needn't 
work  any  more  to-day.  And  you  can  have 
part  of  my  garden  if  you  want  it." 

Milly,  smiling  across  the  mud  on  her 
cheeks,  would  murmur :  — 

"  You  am'  goin'  sell  yo'  Milly  down 
South,  is  you,  Miss  Gabriella  ?  " 

"  /  won't.  But  I'm  not  so  sure  about 
grandmother,  Milly.  You  know  she  will 
do  it  sometimes.  Our  cotton's  got  to  be 
picked  by  somebody,  and  who's  to  do  it  but 
you  lazy  negroes  ?  " 

In  those  days  the  apple  tree  would  be 


250  The  Reign  of  Law 

blooming,  and  the  petals  would  sift  down 
on  Gabriella.  Looking  up  at  the  marriage 
bell  of  blossoms,  and  speaking  in  the  lan 
guage  of  her  grandmother,  she  would 
say:  — 

"  Milly,  when  I  grow  up  and  get  married, 
I  am  going  to  be  married  out  of  doors  in 
spring  under  an  apple  tree/' 

"  I  don'  know  whah  /gwine  be  married," 
Milly  would  say  with  a  hoarse,  careless 
cackle.  "  I  'spec'  in  a  brier-patch." 

Gabriella's  first  discovery  of  what  mean 
ness  human  nature  can  exhibit  was  con 
nected  with  this  garden.  So  long  as 
everything  was  sour  and  green,  she  could 
play  there  by  the  hour ;  but  as  soon  as  any 
thing  got  ripe  and  delicious,  the  gate  with 
the  high  latch  was  shut  and  she  could  never 
enter  it  unguarded.  What  tears  she  shed 
outside  the  fence  as  she  peeped  through ! 
When  they  did  take  her  in,  they  always 
held  her  by  the  hand. 

"  Dorit  hold  my  hand,  Sam,"  pleadingly 
to  the  negro  gardener.  "  It's  so  hot  /  " 

"  You  fall  down  and  hurt  yourself," 


The  Reign  of  Law  251 

"  How  absurd,  Sam !  The  idea  of  my 
falling  down  when  I  am  walking  along 
slowly !  " 

"  You  get  lost. " 

"  How  can  you  say  anything  so  amus 
ing  as  that,  Sam !  Did  I  ever  get  lost  in 
here  ?  " 

"  Snakes  bite  you." 

"  Why  do  you  think  they'd  bite  me,  Sam  ? 
They  have  never  been  known  to  bite  any 
body  else." 

"You  scratch  yourself." 

"  How  can  I  scratch  myself,  Sam,  when 
Fm  not  doing  anything  ?  " 

"  Caterpillars  crawl  on  you." 

"They  crawl  on  me  when  I'm  not  in 
the  garden,  Sam.  So  why  do  you  harp 
on  that?" 

Slowly  they  walked  on  —  past  the  temp 
tations  of  Eden. 

"  Please,  let  me  try  just  once,  Sam  1 " 

"  Try  what,  Miss  Gabriella?  " 

"To  see  whether  the  snakes  will  bite 


me." 


"  I  couldn't 


252  The  Reign  of  Law 

"  Then  take  me  to  see  the  grapes,"  she 
would  say  wearily. 

There  they  were,  hanging  under  the 
glass:  bunches  of  black  and  of  purple 
Hamburgs,  and  of  translucent  Malagas, 
big  enough  to  have  been  an  armful  1 

"  Just  one,  Sam,  please." 

"  Make  you  sick." 

"  They  never  make  me  sick  when  I  eat 
them  in  the  house.  They  are  good  for 
me  !  One  couldnt  make  me  sick.  I'm 
sick  because  you  dorit  give  it  to  me. 
Don't  I  look  sick,  Sam  ?  " 

The  time  came  when  Gabriella  began 
to  extend  her  knowledge  to  the  country, 
as  she  drove  out  beside  her  grandmother 
in  the  balmy  spring  and  early  summer 
afternoons. 

"What  is  that,  grandmother?"  she 
would  say,  pointing  with  her  small  fore 
finger  to  a  field  by  the  turnpike. 

"  That  is  corn." 

"And  what  is  that?" 

"  That  is  wheat." 

*<  And  what  is  that  ?  " 


The  Reign  of  Law  253 

"  Oats,  Gabriella." 

"Oh,  grandmother,  what  is  that?" 

"  Tut,  tut,  child  !  Don't  you  know  what 
that  is?  That's  hemp.  That  is  what 
bales  all  our  cotton." 

"  Oh,  grandmother,  smell  it !  " 

After  this  sometimes  Gabriella  would 
order  the  driver  to  turn  off  into  some 
green  lane  about  sunset  and  press  on  till 
they  found  a  field  by  the  way.  As  soon 
as  they  began  to  pass  it,  over  into  their 
d~es  would  be  wafted  the  clean,  cooling, 
velvet-soft,  balsam  breath  of  the  hemp. 
The  carriage  would  stop,  and  Gabriella, 
standing  up  and  facing  the  field,  would 
fill  her  lungs  again  and  again,  smiling  at 
her  grandmother  for  approval.  Then  she 
would  take  her  seat  and  say  quietly :  — 

u  Turn  round,  Tom,  and  drive  back.  I 
have  smelt  it  enough," 

These  drives  alone  with  her  grand 
mother  were  for  spring  and  early  summer 
only.  Full  summer  brought  up  from  their 
plantations  in  Louisiana,  Arkansas,  and 
Mississippi,  her  uncles  and  the  wives  and 


254  The  Reign  of  Law 

children  of  some  of  them.  All  the  bed 
rooms  in  the  big  house  were  filled,  and 
Gabriella  was  nearly  lost  in  the  multitude, 
she  being  the  only  child  of  the  only  daugh 
ter  of  her  grandmother.  And  now  what 
happy  times  there  were.  The  silks,  and 
satins,  and  laces  1  The  plate,  the  gold,  the 
cut  glass !  The  dinners,  the  music,  the 
laughter,  the  wines ! 

Later,  some  of  her  uncles'  families  might 
travel  on  with  their  servants  to  watering 
places  farther  north.  But  in  September 
all  were  back  again  under  the  one  broad 
Kentucky  roof,  stopping  for  the  beautiful 
Lexington  fair,  then  celebrated  all  over 
the  land ;  and  for  the  races  —  those  days 
of  the  thoroughbred  only;  and  until 
frost  fall  should  make  it  safe  to  return  to 
the  swamps  and  bayous,  loved  by  the  yel 
low  fever. 

When  all  were  departed,  sometimes  her 
grandmother,  closing  the  house  for  the 
winter,  would  follow  one  of  her  sons  to 
his  plantation ;  thence  later  proceeding 
to  New  Orleans,  at  that  time  the  most 


The  Reign  of  Law  255 

brilliant  of  American  capitals ;  and  so 
Gabriella  would  see  the  Father  of  Waters, 
and  the  things  that  happened  in  the  float 
ing  palaces  of  the  Mississippi ;  see  the 
social  life  of  the  ancient  French  and  Span 
ish  city. 

All  that  could  be  most  luxurious  and 
splendid  in  Kentucky  during  those  last 
deep,  rich  years  of  the  old  social  order, 
was  Gabriella's:  the  extravagance,  the 
gayety,  the  pride,  the  lovely  manners,  the 
selfishness  and  cruelty  in  its  terrible,  un 
conscious,  and  narrow  way,  the  false  ideals, 
the  aristocratic  virtues.  Then  it  was  that, 
overspreading  land  and  people,  lay  the  full 
autumn  of  that  sowing,  which  had  moved 
silently  on  its  way  toward  its  fateful  fruits 
for  over  fifty  years.  Everything  was  ripe, 
sweet,  mellow,  dropping,  turning  rotten. 

O  ye  who  have  young  children,  if  pos 
sible  give  them  happy  memories !  Fill 
their  earliest  years  with  bright  pictures  ! 
A  great  historian  many  centuries  ago 
wrote  it  down  that  the  first  thing  con 
quered  in  battle  are  the  eyes :  the  soldier 


256  The  Reign  of  Law 

flees  from  what  he  sees  before  him.  But 
so  often  in  the  world's  fight  we  are  de 
feated  by  what  we  look  back  upon ;  we 
are  whipped  in  the  end  by  the  things  we 
saw  in  the  beginning  of  life.  The  time 
arrived  for  Gabriella  when  the  gorgeous 
fairy  tale  of  her  childhood  was  all  that  she 
had  to  sustain  her :  when  it  meant  conso 
lation,  courage,  fortitude,  victory. 

A  war  volume,  black,  fiery,  furious, 
awful  —  this  comprised  the  second  part  of 
her  history:  it  contained  the  overthrow 
of  half  the  American  people,  and  the 
downfall  of  the  child  princess  Gabriella. 
An  idea  —  how  negative,  nerveless,  it 
looks  printed !  A  little  group  of  four 
ideas  —  how  should  they  have  power  of 
life  and  death  over  millions  of  human 
beings  !  But  say  that  one  is  the  idea  of  the 
right  of  self-government  —  much  loved 
and  fought  for  all  round  the  earth  by  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race.  Say  that  a  second  is 
the  idea  that  with  his  own  property  a 
man  has  a  right  to  do  as  he  pleases : 
another  notion  that  has  been  warred  over. 


The  Reign  of  Law  257 

world  without  end.  Let  these  two  ideas 
run  in  the  blood  and  passions  of  the 
Southern  people.  Say  that  a  third  idea 
is  that  of  national  greatness  (the  preserva 
tion  of  the  Union),  another  idol  of  this 
nation-building  race.  Say  that  the  fourth 
idea  is  that  of  evolving  humanity,  or,  at 
least,  that  slave-holding  societies  must 
be  made  non-slave-holding  —  if  not  peace 
ably,  then  by  force  of  arms.  Let  these 
two  ideas  be  running  in  the  blood  and 
passions  of  the  Northern  people.  Bring 
the  first  set  of  ideas  and  the  second  set 
together  in  a  struggle  for  supremacy.  By 
all  mankind  it  is  now  known  what  the 
result  was  for  the  nation.  What  these 
ideas  did  for  one  little  girl,  living  in  Lex 
ington,  Kentucky,  was  part  of  that  same 
sad,  sublime  history. 

They  ordered  the  grandmother  across 
the  lines,  as  a  wealthy  sympathizer  and 
political  agent  of  the  Southern  cause ; 
they  seized  her  house,  confiscated  it,  used 
it  as  officers'  headquarters  :  in  the  end  they 
killed  her  with  grief  and  care  ;  they  sent 


258  The  Reign  of  Law 

her  sons,  every  man  of  them,  into  the  South 
ern  armies,  ravaged  their  plantations,  lib 
erated  their  slaves,  left  them  dead  on  the 
fields  of  battle,  or  wrecked  in  health,  hope, 
fortune.  Gabriella,  placed  in  a  boarding- 
school  in  Lexington  at  that  last  hurried 
parting  with  her  grandmother,  stayed  there 
a  year.  Then  the  funds  left  to  her  account 
in  bank  were  gone ;  she  went  to  live  with 
near  relatives  ;  and  during  the  remaining 
years  of  the  war  was  first  in  one  house 
hold,  then  another,  of  kindred  or  friends 
all  of  whom  contended  for  the  privilege  of 
finding  her  a  home.  But  at  the  close  of 
the  war,  Gabriella,  issuing  from  the  tem 
porary  shelters  given  her  during  the 
storm,  might  have  been  seen  as  a  snow- 
white  pigeon  flying  lost  and  bewildered 
across  a  black  cloud  covering  half  the 
sky. 

The  third  volume  —  the  Peace  Book  in 
which  there  was  no  Peace :  this  was  the 
beginning  of  Gabriella,  child  of  the  Revo 
lution.  She  did  not  now  own  a  human 
being  except  herself ;  could  give  orders  to 


The  Reign  of  Law  259 

none  but  herself;  could  train  for  this  work, 
whip  up  to  that  duty,  only  herself ;  and  if 
she  was  still  minded  to  play  the  mistress  - 
firm,    kind,    efficient,    capable  —  must    be 
such  a  mistress  solely  to  Gabriella. 

By  that  social  evolution  of  the  race  which 
in  one  country  after  another  had  wrought 
the  overthrow  of  slavery,  she  had  now  been 
placed  with  a  generation  unique  in  history: 
a  generation  of  young  Southern  girls,  of 
gentle  birth  and  breeding,  of  the  most  deli 
cate  nature,  who,  heiresses  in  slaves  and 
lands  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  were 
penniless  and  unrecognized  wards  of  the 
federal  government  at  its  close,  their  slaves 
having  been  made  citizens  and  their  plan 
tations  laid  waste.  On  these  unprepared 
and  innocent  girls  thus  fell  most  heavily 
not  onlv  the  mistakes  and  misdeeds  of  their 

j 

own  fathers  and  mothers  but  the  common 
guilt  of  the  whole  nation,  and  particularly 
of  New  England,  as  respects  the  original 
traffic  in  human  souls.  The  change  in  the 
lives  of  these  girls  was  as  sudden  and  ter 
rible  as  if  one  had  entered  a  brilliant  ball- 


260  The  Reign  of  Law 

room  and  in  the  voice  of  an  overseer 
ordered  the  dancers  to  go  as  they  were 
to  the  factories. 

To  the  factories  many  of  them  went,  in 
a  sense :  to  hard  work  of  some  sort  —  to 
wage-earning  and  wage-taking :  sometimes 
becoming  the  mainstay  of  aged  or  infirm 
parents,  the  dependence  of  younger 
brothers  and  sisters.  If  the  history  of  it 
all  is  ever  written,  it  will  make  pitiful, 
heroic,  noble  reading. 

The  last  volume  of  Gabriella's  memoirs 
showed  her  in  this  field  of  struggle  —  of 
new  growth  to  suit  the  newer  day.  It  was 
so  unlike  the  first  volume  as  to  seem  no 
continuation  of  her  own  life.  It  began  one 
summer  morning  about  two  years  after  the 
close  of  the  war  —  an  interval  which  she 
had  spent  in  various  efforts  at  self-help,  at 
self-training. 

On  that  morning,  pale  and  trembling, 
but  resolute,  her  face  heavily  veiled,  she 
might  have  been  seen  on  her  way  to  Water 
Street  in  Lexington  —  a  street  she  had 
heard  of  all  her  life  and  had  been  careful 


The  Reign  of  Law  261 

never  to  enter  except  to  take  or  to  alight 
from  a  train  at  the  station.  Passing 
quickly  along  until  she  reached  a  certain 
ill-smelling  little  stairway  which  opened  on 
the  foul  sidewalk,  she  mounted  it,  knocked 
at  a  low  black-painted  plank  door,  and 
entered  a  room  which  was  a  curiosity  shop. 
There  she  was  greeted  by  an  elderly  gen 
tleman,  who  united  in  himself  the  offices  of 
superintendent  of  schools,  experimental 
astronomer,  and  manufacturer  of  a  high 
grade  of  mustard.  She  had  presented  her 
self  to  be  examined  for  a  teacher's  certifi 
cate. 

Fortunately  for  Gabriella  this  kindly  old 
sage  remembered  well  her  grandmother 
and  her  uncles :  they  had  been  connoisseurs; 
they  had  for  years  bought  liberally  of  his 
mustard.  Her  uncles  had  used  it  first  on 
their  dinner  tables  as  a  condiment  and  after 
ward  on  their  foreheads  and  stomachs  as 
a  plaster.  They  had  never  failed  to  praise 
it  to  his  face  —  both  for  its  power  to  draw 
an  appetite  and  for  its  power  to  withdraw 
an  ache.  In  turn  he  now  praised  them 


262  The  Reign  of  Law 

and  asked  the  easiest  questions.  Gabriella, 
whose  knowledge  of  arithmetic  was  as  a 
grain  of  mustard  seed,  and  who  spoke 
beautiful  English,  but  could  not  have 
parsed,  "  John,  come  here  !  "  —  received  a 
first-class  certificate  for  the  sake  of  the 
future  and  a  box  of  mustard  in  memory  of 
the  past. 

Early  in  that  autumn  she  climbed,  one 
morning,  into  an  old  yellow-red,  ever 
muddied  stage-coach  (the  same  that  David 
had  ridden  in)  and  set  out  to  a  remote 
neighborhood,  where,  after  many  failures 
otherwise,  she  had  secured  a  position  to 
teach  a  small  country  school.  She  was 
glad  that  it  was  distant ;  she  had  a  feeling 
that  the  farther  away  it  was  from  Lexing 
ton,  the  easier  it  would  be  to  teach. 

Nearly  all  that  interminable  day,  the 
mechanism  of  the  stage  and  the  condition 
of  the  pike  (much  fresh-cracked  limestone 
on  it)  administered  to  Gabriella's  body  such 
a  massage  as  is  not  now  known  to  medical 
science.  But  even  this  was  as  nothing 
in  comparison  to  the  rack  on  which  she 


The  Reign  of  Law  263 

stretched  every  muscle  of  her  mind.  What 
did  she  know  about  teaching  ?  What  kind 
of  people  would  they  be  ? 

Late  that  mild  September  afternoon  she 
began  to  find  out.  The  stage  stopped  at 
the  mouth  of  a  lane ;  and  looking  out 
with  deathly  faintness,  Gabriella  saw,  stand 
ing  beside  a  narrow,  no-top  buggy,  a  big, 
hearty,  sunburned  farmer  with  his  waist 
coat  half  unbuttoned,  wearing  a  suit  of 
butternut  jeans  and  a  yellow  straw  hat 
with  the  wide  brim  turned  up  like  a  cow's 
horns. 

"  Have  you  got  my  school-teacher  in 
there  ? "  he  called  out  in  a  voice  that  car 
ried  like  a  heavy,  sweet-sounding  bell. 
"  And  did  you  bring  me  them  things  I  told 
you  to  get  ?  " 

"  Which  is  she  ? "  he  asked  as  he  came 
over  to  the  stage  window  and  peered  in  at 
the  several  travellers. 

"  How  do  you  do,  Miss  Gabriella  ? "  he 
said,  taking  his  hat  clear  off  his  big,  hon 
est,  hairy,  brown  head  and  putting  in  a 
hand  that  would  have  held  several  of 


264  The  Reign  of  Law 

Gabriella's.  "  I'm  glad  to  see  you  ;  and  the 
children  have  been  crying  for  you.  Now, 
if  you  will  just  let  me  help  you  to  a  seat 
in  the  buggy,  and  hold  the  lines  for  a 
minute  while  I  get  some  things  Joe's 
brought  me,  we'll  jog  along  home.  I'm 
glad  to  see  you.  I  been  hearing  a  heap 
about  you  from  the  superintendent." 

Gabriella  already  loved  him !  When 
they  were  seated  in  the  buggy,  he  took  up 
six-sevenths  of  the  space.  She  was  so 
close  to  him  that  it  scared  her — so  close 
that  when  he  turned  his  head  on  his  short, 
thick  neck  to  look  at  her,  he  could  hardly 
see  her. 

"  He  has  a  little  slip  of  a  wife,"  explained 
Gabriella  to  herself.  "I'm  in  her  seat: 
that's  why  he's  used  to  it." 

So  she  got  used  to  it ;  and  soon  felt  a 
frank  comfort  in  being  able  to  nestle  freely 
against  him  —to  cling  to  him  like  a  bat 
to  a  warm  wall.  For  cling  sometimes  she 
must.  He  was  driving  a  sorrel  fresh  from 
pasture,  with  long,  ragged  hoofs,  burrs  in 
mane  and  tail,  and  a  wild  desire  to  get 


The  Reign  of  Law  265 

home  to  her  foal ;  so  that  she  fled  across 
the  country  —  bridges,  ditches,  everything, 
frantic  with  maternal  passion.  One  cir 
cumstance  made  for  Gabriella's  security: 
the  buggy  tilted  over  toward  him  so  low, 
that  she  could  not  conveniently  roll  out: 
instead  she  felt  as  though  she  were  being 
whirled  around  a  steep  hillside. 

Meantime,  how  he  talked  to  her !  Told 
her  the  school  was  all  made  up :  what 
families  were  going  to  send,  and  how  many 
children  from  each.  They  had  all  heard 
from  the  superintendent  what  a  fine 
teacher  she  was  (not  for  nothing  is  it  said 
that  things  are  handed  along  kindly  in 
Kentucky) ! 

"  Oh,"  murmured  Gabriella  to  herself, 
"  if  the  family  are  only  like  him  I "  The 
mere  way  in  which  he  called  her  by  her 
first  name,  as  though  she  were  an  old 
friend  —  a  sort  of  old  sweetheart  of  his 
whom  for  some  reason  he  had  failed  to 
marry  —  filled  her  with  perfect  trust. 

"  That's  my  house ! "  he  said  at  last, 
pointing  with  extended  arm  and  whip 


266  The  Reign  of  Law 

(which  latter  he  had  no  occasion  to  use) 
across  the  open  country. 

Gabrieila  followed  his  gesture  with  ap 
prehensive  eyes  and  beheld  away  off  a  big 
comfortable-looking  two-story  brick  dwell 
ing  with  white-washed  fences  around  it 
and  all  sorts  of  white-washed  houses  on 
one  side  or  the  other  —  a  plain,  sweet, 
country,  Kentucky  home,  God  bless  it ! 
The  whiteness  won  Gabrieila  at  once ;  and 
with  the  whiteness  went  other  things  just 
as  good :  the  assurance  everywhere  of 
thrift,  comfort.  Not  a  weed  in  sight,  but 
September  bluegrass,  deep  flowing,  or 
fresh -ploughed  fields  or  clean  stubble. 
Every  rail  in  its  place  on  every  fence; 
every  gate  well  swung.  Everything  in 
sight  in  the  way  of  live  stock  seemed  to 
Gabrieila  either  young  or  just  old  enough. 
The  very  stumps  they  passed  looked 
healthy. 

Her  conjecture  had  been  correct :  the 
slender  slip  of  a  woman  met  her  at  the 
side  porch  a  little  diffidently,  with  a  modest 
smile ;  then  kissed  her  on  the  mouth  and 


The  Reign  of  Law  267 

invited  her  in.  The  supper  table  was 
already  set  in  the  middle  of  the  room  ;  and 
over  in  one  corner  was  a  big  white  bed  — 
with  a  trundle  bed  (not  visible)  under  it. 
Gabriella  "  took  off  her  things  "  and  laid 
them  on  the  snowy  counterpane ;  and  the 
housewife  told  her  she  would  let  the  chil 
dren  entertain  her  for  a  few  minutes  while 
she  saw  about  supper. 

The  children  accepted  the  agreement. 
They  swarmed  about  her  as  about  a  new 
cake.  Two  or  three  of  the  youngest  began 
to  climb  over  her  as  they  climbed  over  the 
ice-house,  to  sit  on  her  as  they  sat  on  the 
stiles.  The  oldest  produced  their  geogra 
phies  and  arithmetics  and  showed  her  how 
far  they  had  gone.  (They  had  gone  a 
great  deal  farther  than  Gabriella!)  No 
one  paid  the  least  attention  to  any  one 
else,  or  stood  in  awe  of  anything  or  any 
body:  Fear  had  never  come  to  that  Jungle ! 

But  trouble  must  enter  into  the  affairs 
of  this  world,  and  it  entered  that  night  into 
Gabriella. 

At  supper  the  farmer,  having  picked  out 


268  The  Reign  of  Law 

for  her  the  best  piece  of  the  breast  of  the 
fried  chicken,  inquired  in  a  voice  which 
implied  how  cordially  superfluous  the 
question  was :  — 

"  Miss  Gabriella,  will  you  have  cream 
gravy  ? " 

"  No,  thank  you." 

The  shock  to  that  family!  Not  take 
cream  gravy  !  What  kind  of  a  teacher  was 
that,  now  ?  Every  small  hand,  old  enough 
to  use  a  knife  or  fork,  held  it  suspended. 
At  the  foot  of  the  table,  the  farmer,  drop 
ping  his  head  a  little,  helped  the  children, 
calling  their  names  one  by  one,  more  softly 
and  in  a  tone  meant  to  restore  cheerful 
ness  if  possible.  The  little  wife  at  the 
head  of  the  table  had  just  put  sugar  into 
Gabriella's  cup  and  was  in  the  act  of  pour 
ing  the  coffee.  She  hastily  emptied  the 
sugar  back  into  the  sugar-dish  and  asked 
with  look  of  dismay :  — 

"  Will  you  have  sugar  in  your  coffee  ?  " 

The  situation  grew  worse  at  breakfast 
In  a  voice  to  which  confidence  had  been 
mysteriously  restored  during  the  night  — 


The  Reign  of  Law  269 

a  voice  that  seemed  to  issue  from  a  honey- 
comb  and  to  drip  sweetness  all  the  way 
across  the  table,  that  big  fellow  at  the 
foot  again  inquired :  — 

"  Miss  Gabriella,  will  you  have  cream 
gravy  —  this  morning  ?  " 

"  No,  thank  you  !  " 

The  oldest  boy  cocked  his  eye  sideways 
at  his  mother,  openly  announcing  that  he 
had  won  a  secret  wager.  The  mother 
hastily  remarked :  • — 

"  I  thought  you  might  like  a  little  for 
your  breakfast." 

The  baby,  noticing  the  stillness  and 
trouble  everywhere,  and  feeling  itself  deeply 
wounded  because  perfectly  innocent,  burst 
into  frantic  crying. 

Gabriella  could  have  outcried  the  baby ! 
She  resolved  that  if  they  had  it  for  dinner, 
she  would  take  it  though  it  were  the  des 
sert.  A  moment  later  she  did  better.  Lift 
ing  her  plate  in  both  hands,  she  held  it 
out,  knife,  fork,  and  all. 

"  I  believe  I'll  change  my  mind.  It 
looks  so  tempting." 


270  The  Reign  of  Law 

"I  think  you'll  find  it  nice,"  remarked 
the  housewife,  conciliated,  but  resentful. 
But  every  child  now  determined  to  watch 
and  see  what  else  she  didn't  take.  They 
watched  in  vain :  she  took  everything. 
So  that  in  a  few  days  they  recovered  their 
faith  in  her  and  resumed  the'ir  crawling,, 
Gabriella  had  never  herself  realized  how 
many  different  routes  and  stations  she  had 
in  her  own  body  until  it  had  been  thus 
travelled  over:  feet  and  ankles;  knees; 
upper  joints;  trunk  line;  eastern  and  west 
ern  divisions ;  head  terminal. 

There  was  never  any  more  trouble  for 
her  in  that  household.  They  made  only 
two  demands :  that  she  eat  whatever  was 
put  on  the  table  and  love  them.  What 
ever  was  put  on  the  table  was  good ;  and 
they  were  all  lovable.  They  were  one 
live,  disorderly  menagerie  of  nothing  but 
love.  But  love  is  not  the  only  essential  of 
life ;  and  its  phenomena  can  be  trying. 

Here,  then,  in  this  remote  neighborhood 
of  plain  farmers,  in  a  little  district  schooil 


The  Reign  of  Law  271 

situated  on  a  mud  road,  Gabriella  began 
alone  and  without  training  her  new  life, — 
attempt  of  the  Southern  girl  to  make  her 
self  self-supporting  in  some  one  of  the 
professions,  —  sign  of  a  vast  national  move 
ment  among  the  women  of  her  people. 
In  her  surroundings  and  ensuing  strug 
gles  she  had  much  use  for  that  saving 
sense  of  humor  which  had  been  poured 
into  her  veins  out  of  the  deep  clear  wells 
of  her  ancestors ;  need  also  of  that  radiant, 
bountiful  light  which  still  fell  upon  her 
from  the  skies  of  the  past;  but  more  than 
these  as  staff  to  her  young  hands,  cup  to 
her  lips,  lamp  to  her  feet,  oil  to  her  daily 
bruises,  rest  to  her  weary  pillow,  was  reli 
ance  on  Higher  Help.  For  the  years  — 
and  they  seemed  to  her  many  and  wide  — 
had  already  driven  Gabriella,  as  they  have 
driven  countless  others  of  her  sex,  out  of 
the  cold,  windy  world  into  the  church : 
she  had  become  a  Protestant  devotee. 
Had  she  been  a  Romanist,  she  would  long 
ere  this  have  been  a  nun.  She  was  now 
fitted  for  any  of  those  merciful  and  heroic 


272  The  Reign  of  Law 

services  which  keep  fresh  on  earth  the 
records  of  devoted  women.  The  inner 
supporting  stem  of  her  nature  had  never 
been  snapped ;  but  it  had  been  bruised 
enough  to  give  off  life-fragrance.  Adver 
sity  had  ennobled  hen  In  truth,  she  had 
so  weathered  the  years  of  a  Revolution 
which  had  left  her  as  destitute  as  it  had 
left  her  free,  that  she  was  like  Perdita's 
rosemary:  a  flower  which  keeps  seeming 
and  savor  all  the  winter  long.  The 
North  Wind  had  bolted  about  her  in  vain 
his  whitest  snows ;  and  now  the  woods 
were  turning  green, 

It  was  merely  in  keeping  with  Gabriella's 
nature,  therefore,  that  as  she  grew  to  know 
the  people  among  whom  she  had  come  to 
stay,  their  homes,  their  family  histories, 
one  household  and  one  story  should  have 
engaged  her  deep  interest:  David's  par 
ents  and  David's  career.  As  she  drove 
about  the  country^  visiting  with  the 
farmer's  wife,  there  had  been  pointed  out 
a  melancholy  remnant  of  a  farm,  desper 
ately  resisting  absorption  by  some  one  of 


The  Reign  of  Law  273 

three  growing  estates  touching  it  on  three 
sides.  She  had  been  taken  to  call  on  the 
father  and  mother ;  had  seen  the  poverty 
within  doors,  the  half-ruined  condition  of 
the  outhouses;  had  heard  of  their  son, 
now  away  at  the  university ;  of  how  they 
had  saved  and  he  had  struggled.  A  proud 
father  it  was  who  now  told  of  his  son's 
magnificent  progress  already  at  college. 

"Ah,"  she  exclaimed,  thinking  it  over 
in  her  room  that  night,  "  this  is  something 
worth  hearing !  Here  is  the  hero  in  life ! 
Among  these  easy-going  people  this  soli 
tary  struggler.  I>  too,  am  one  now ;  I  can 
understand  him." 

During  the  first  year  of  her  teaching, 
there  had  developed  in  her  a  noble  desire 
to  see  David ;  but  one  long  to  be  disap 
pointed.  He  did  not  return  home  during 
his  vacation  ;  she  went  away  during  hers. 
The  autumn  following  he  was  back  in  col 
lege  ;  she  at  her  school.  Then  the  Christ 
mas  holidays  and  his  astounding,  terrible 
home-coming,  put  out  of  college  and 
church.  As  soon  as  she  heard  of  that 


274  The  Reign  of  Law 

awful  downfall,  Gabriella  felt  a  desire  to 
go  straight  to  him.  She  did  not  reason 
or  hesitate  :  she  went. 

And  now  for  two  months  they  had  been 
seeing  each  other  every  few  days. 

Thus  by  the  working  out  of  vast  forces, 
the  lives  of  Gabriella  and  David  had  been 
jostled  violently  together.  They  were  the 
children  of  two  revolutions,  separate  yet 
having  a  common  end :  she  produced  by 
the  social  revolution  of  the  New  World, 
which  overthrew  mediaeval  slavery ;  he  by 
the  intellectual  revolution  of  the  Old 
World,  which  began  to  put  forth  scientific 
law,  but  in  doing  this  brought  on  one  of 
the  greatest  ages  of  religious  doubt.  So 
that  both  were  early  vestiges  of  the  same 
immeasurable  race  evolution,  proceeding 
along  converging  lines.  She,  living  on 
the  artificial  summits  of  a  decaying  social 
order,  had  farthest  to  fall,  in  its  collapse, 
ere  she  reached  the  natural  earth;  he, 
toiling  at  the  bottom,  had  farthest  to  rise 
before  he  could  look  out  upon  the  plains 


The  Reign  of  Law  275 

of  widening  modern  thought  and  man's 
evolving  destiny.  Through  her  fall  and 
his  rise,  they  had  been  brought  to  a  com 
mon  level.  But  on  that  level  all  that  had 
befallen  her  had  driven  her  as  out  of  a 
blinding  storm  into  the  church,  the  seat  and 
asylum  of  religion ;  all  that  had  befallen 
him  had  driven  him  out  of  the  churches 
as  the  fortifications  of  theology.  She  had 
been  drawn  to  that  part  of  worship  which 
lasts  and  is  divine ;  he  had  been  repelled 
by  the  part  that  passes  and  is  human. 

XVI 

ALTHOUGH  Gabriella  had  joyously  greeted 
the  day,  as  bringing  exemption  from  sti 
fling  hours  in  school,  her  spirits  had  drooped 
ere  evening  with  monotony.  There  were 
no  books  in  use  among  the  members  of 
that  lovable  household  except  school- 
books  ;  they  were  too  busy  with  the  pri 
mary  joys  of  life  to  notice  the  secondary 
resources  of  literature.  She  had  no  pleas 
ant  sewing.  To  escape  the  noise  of  the 


276  The  Reign  of  Law 

pent-up  children,  she  must  restrict  herself 
to  that  part  of  the  house  which  comprised 
her  room.  A  walk  out  of  doors  was  im 
practicable,  although  she  ventured  once 
into  the  yard  to  study  more  closely  the 
marvels  of  the  ice- work;  and  to  the  edge 
of  the  orchard,  to  ascertain  how  the  apple 
trees  were  bearing  up  under  those  ava 
lanches  of  frozen  silver  slipped  from  the 
clouds. 

So  there  were  empty  hours  for  her  that 
day ;  and  always  the  emptiest  are  the 
heaviest  —  those  unfilled  baskets  of  time 
which  strangely  become  lightest  only  after 
we  have  heaped  them  with  the  best  we 
have  to  give.  Gabriella  filled  the  hour- 
baskets  this  day  with  thoughts  of  David, 
whose  field  work  she  knew  would  be  inter 
rupted  by  the  storm,  and  whose  movements 
about  the  house  she  vainly  tried  to  follow 
in  imagination. 

Two  months  of  close  association  with 
him  in  that  dull  country  neighborhood  had 
wrought  great  changes  in  the  simple  feel 
ing  with  which  she  had  sought  him  at  first 


The  Reign  of  Law  277 

He  had  then  been  to  her  only  a  Prodigal 
who  had  squandered  his  substance,  tried  to 
feed  his  soul  on  the  swinish  husks  of  Doubt,, 
and  returning  to  his  father's  house  unre 
pentant,  had  been  admitted  yet  remained 
rejected :  a  Prodigal  not  of  the  flesh  and 
the  world  but  of  the  spirit  and  the  Lord. 
But  what  has  ever  interested  the  heart  of 
woman  as  a  prodigal  of  some  kind  ? 

At  other  times  he  was  figured  by  her 
sympathies  as  a  young  Samaritan  gone  trav 
elling  into  a  Divine  country  but  fallen 
among  spiritual  thieves,  who  had  stripped 
him  of  his  seamless  robe  of  Faith  and  left 
him  bruised  by  Life's  wayside  :  a  maltreated 
Christ-neighbor  whom  it  was  her  duty 
to  succor  if  she  could.  But  a  woman's 
nursing  of  a  man's  wound  — how  often 
it  becomes  the  nursing  of  the  wounded ! 
Moreover,  Gabriella  had  now  long  been 
aware  of  what  she  had  become  to  her 
prodigal,  her  Samaritan ;  she  saw  the  truth 
and  watched  it  growing  from  day  to  day; 
for  he  was  incapable  of  disguises.  But 
often  what  effect  has  such  watching  upon 


278  The  Reign  of  Law 

the  watcher,  a  watcher  who  is  alone  in  the 
world  ?  So  that  while  she  fathomed  with 
many  feminine  soundings  all  that  she  was 
to  David,  Gabriella  did  not  dream  what 
David  had  become  to  her. 

Shortly  after  nightfall,  when  she  heard 
his  heavy  tread  on  the  porch  below,  the 
tedium  of  the  day  instantly  vanished. 
Happiness  rose  in  her  like  a  clear  fountain 
set  suddenly  playing  —  rose  to  her  eyes  — 
bathed  her  in  refreshing  vital  emotions. 

"  I  am  so  glad  you  came,"  she  said  as 
she  entered  the  parlor,  gave  him  her  hand, 
and  stood  looking  up  into  his  softened 
rugged  face,  at  his  majestical  head,  which 
overawed  her  a  little  always.  Large  as 
was  the  mould  in  which  nature  had  cast 
his  body,  this  seemed  to  her  dwarfed  by 
the  inner  largeness  of  the  man,  whose  de 
velopment  she  could  note  as  now  going 
forward  almost  visibly  from  day  to  day: 
he  had  risen  so  far  already  and  was  still  so 
young. 

He  did  not  reply  to  her  greeting  except 
with  a  look.  In  matters  which  involved 


The  Reign  of  Law  279 

his  feeling  for  her,  he  was  habitually  ham 
pered  and  ill  at  ease  ;  only  on  general  sub 
jects  did  she  ever  see  him  master  of  his 
resources.  Gabriella  had  fallen  into  the 
habit  of  looking  into  his  eyes  for  the  best 
answers:  there  he  always  spoke  not  only 
with  ideas  but  emotions :  a  double  speech 
much  cared  for  by  woman. 

They  seated  themselves  on  opposite  sides 
of  the  wide  deep  fire-place:  a  grate  for 
soft  coal  had  not  yet  destroyed  that. 

"  Your  schoolhouse  is  safe,"  he  an 
nounced  briefly. 

"  Oh,  I've  been  wanting  to  know  all  day 
but  had  no  one  to  send  !  How  do  you 
know  ?  "  she  inquired  quickly. 

"It's  safe.  The  yard  will  have  to  be 
cleared  of  brush :  that's  all." 

She  looked  at  him  gratefully.  "You 
are  always  so  kind!" 

"Well,"  observed  David,  with  a  great 
forward  stride,  "  aren't  you  ?  " 

Gabriella,  being  a  woman,  did  not  par 
ticularly  prize  this  remark:  it  suggested 
his  being  kind  because  she  had  been  kind 


280  The  Reign  of  Law 

and  a  woman   likes    nothing   as    reward, 
everything  as  tribute. 

"  And  now  if  the  apple  trees  are  only 
not  killed!"  she  exclaimed  joyously, 
changing  the  subject. 

"  Why  the  apple  trees  ?  " 

"  If  you  had  been  here  last  spring,  you 
would  have  understood.  When  they  bloom, 
they  are  mine,  I  take  possession."  After  a 
moment  she  added :  "  They  bring  back 
the  recollection  of  such  happy  times  — 
springs  long  ago.  Some  time  I'll  tell 
you." 

"  When  you  were  a  little  girl  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"I  wish  I  had  known  you  when  you 
were  a  little  girl,"  said  David,  in  an  under 
tone,  looking  into  the  fire. 

Gabriella  reflected  how  impossible  this 
would  have  been :  the  thought  caused  her 
sharp  pain. 

Some  time  later,  David,  who  had  ap 
peared  more  and  more  involved  in  some 
inward  struggle,  suddenly  asked  a  relieving 
question :  — 


The  Reign  of  Law  281 

"  Do  you  know  the  first  time  I  ever  saw 
you?" 

She  did  not  answer  at  once. 

44  In  the  smoke-house,"  she  said  with  a 
ripple  of  laughter.  Gabriella,  when  she 
was  merry,  made  one  think  of  some  lovely 
green  April  hill,  snow-capped. 

David  shook  his  head  slowly.  His  eyes 
grew  soft  and  mysterious. 

"  It  was  the  first  time  /  ever  saw  you? 
she  protested, 

He  continued  to  shake  his  head,  and  she 
looked  puzzled. 

'You  saw  me  once  before  that,  and 
smiled  at  me." 

Gabriella  seemed  incredulous  and  not 
well  pleased. 

After  a  little  while  David  began  in  the 
manner  of  one  who  sets  out  to  tell  a  story 
he  is  secretly  fond  of. 

"  Do  you  remember  standing  on  the 
steps  of  a  church  the  Friday  evening 
before  Christmas  —  a  little  after  dark  ?  " 

Gabriella's  eyes  began  to  express  remem 
brance. 


282  The  Reign  of  Law 

"  A  wagon-load  of  cedar  had  just  been 
thrown  out  on  the  sidewalk,  the  sexton 
was  carrying  it  into  the  church,  some  chil 
dren  were  helping,  you  were  making  a 
wreath  :  do  you  remember  ?  " 

She  knew  every  word  of  this. 

"  A  young  man  —  a  Bible  student  — 
passed,  or  tried  to  pass.  You  smiled  at 
his  difficulty.  Not  unkindly,"  he  added, 
smiling  not  unkindly  himself. 

"  And  that  was  you  ?  This  explains  why 
I  have  always  believed  I  had  seen  you 
before.  But  it  was  only  for  a  moment, 
your  face  was  in  the  dark ;  how  should  I 
remember  ? " 

After  she  said  this,  she  looked  grave : 
his  face  that  night  had  been  far  from  a 
happy  one. 

"  That  day,"  continued  David,  quickly 
grave  also,  "  that  day  I  saw  my  professors 
and  pastor  for  the  last  time ;  it  ended  me 
as  a  Bible  student.  I  had  left  the  Univer 
sity  and  the  scene  of  my  trial  only  a  little 
while  before." 

He  rose  as  he  concluded  and  took  a 


The  Reign  of  Law  283 

turn  across  the  room.  Then  he  faced  her, 
smiling  a  little  sadly. 

"  Once  I  might  have  thought  all  that 
Providential.  I  mean,  seeing  the  faces  of 
my  professors  —  my  judges  —  last,  as  the 
end  of  my  old  life ;  then  seeing  your  face 
next  —  the  beginning  of  the  new." 

He  had  long  used  frankness  like  this, 
making  no  secret  of  himself,  of  her  influ 
ence  over  him.  It  was  embarrassing;  it 
declared  so  much,  assumed  so  much,  that 
had  never  been  declared  or  assumed  in  any 
other  way.  But  her  stripped  and  beaten 
young  Samaritan  was  no  labyrinthine 
courtier,  bescented  and  bedraped  and  be- 
dyed  with  worldliness  and  conventions : 
he  came  ever  in  her  presence  naked  of  soul. 
It  was  this  that  empowered  her  to  take  the 
measure  of  his  feeling  for  her:  it  had  its 
effect. 

David  returned  to  his  chair  and  looked 
across  with  a  mixture  of  hesitancy  and 
determination. 

"  I  have  never  spoken  to  you  about  my 
expulsion  —  my  unbelief." 


284  The  Reign  of  Law 

After  a  painful  pause  she  answered. 

"  You  must  be  aware  that  I  have  noticed 
your  silence.  Perhaps  you  do  not  realize 
how  much  I  have  regretted  it." 

"  You  know  why  I  have  not  ?  " 

She  did  not  answer. 

"  I  have  been  afraid.  It's  the  only  thing 
in  the  world  I've  ever  been  afraid  of." 

«  Why  should  you  have  been  ?  " 

"  I  dreaded  to  know  how  you  might 
feel.  It  has  caused  a  difficulty  with  every 
one  so  far.  It  separated  me  from  my 
friends  among  the  Bible  students.  It  sepa 
rated  me  from  my  professors,  my  pastor. 
It  has  alienated  my  father  and  mother.  I 
did  not  know  how  you  would  regard  it." 

"  Have  I  not  known  it  all  the  time  ? 
Has  it  made  any  difference?  " 

"  Ah !  but  that  might  be  only  your 
toleration!  Meantime  it  has  become  a 
question  with  me  how  far  your  toleration 
will  go  —  what  is  back  of  your  toleration ! 
We  tolerate  so  much  in  people  who  are 
merely  acquaintances  —  people  that  we  do 
not  care  particularly  for  and  that  we  are 


The  Reign  of  Law  285 

never  to  have  anything  to  do  with  in  life. 
But  if  the  tie  begins  to  be  closer,  then  the 
things  we  tolerated  at  a  distance  —  what 
becomes  of  them  then  ?  " 

He  was  looking  at  her  steadily,  and  she 
dropped  her  eyes.  This  was  another  one 
of  the  Prodigal's  assumptions  —  but  never 
before  put  so  pointedly. 

"  So  I  have  feared  that  when  I  myself 
told  you  what  I  believe  and  what  I  do  not 
believe,  it  might  be  the  end  of  me.  And 
when  you  learned  my  feelings  toward  what 
you  believe  —  that  might  be  more  trouble 
some  still.  But  the  time  has  come  when 
I  must  know." 

He  turned  his  face  away  from  her,  and 
rising,  walked  several  times  across  the 
room. 

At  last  also  the  moment  had  arrived  for 
which  she  had  been  waiting.  Freely  as 
they  had  spoken  to  each  other  of  their 
pasts  —  she  giving  him  glimpses  of  the 
world  in  which  she  had  been  reared,  he 
taking  her  into  his  world  which  was  equally 
unfamiliar  —  on  this  subject  silence  be- 


286  The  Reign  of  Law 

tween  them  had  never  been  broken.  She 
had  often  sought  to  pass  the  guard  he 
placed  around  this  tragical  episode  but  had 
always  been  turned  away.  The  only  origi 
nal  ground  of  her  interest  in  him,  there 
fore,  still  remained  a  background,  obscure 
and  unexplored.  She  regretted  this  for 
many  reasons.  Her  belief  was  that  he  was 
merely  passing  through  a  phase  of  religious 
life  not  uncommon  with  those  who  were 
born  to  go  far  in  mental  travels  before  they 
settled  in  their  Holy  Land.  She  believed 
it  would  be  over  the  sooner  if  he  had  the 
chance  to  live  it  out  in  discussion ;  and 
she  herself  offered  the  only  possibility  of 
this.  Gabriella  was  in  a  position  to  know 
by  experience  what  it  means  in  hours  of 
trouble  to  need  the  relief  of  companion 
ship.  Ideas,  she  had  learned,  long  shut 
up  in  the  mind  tend  to  germinate  and  take 
root.  There  had  been  discords  which  had 
ceased  sounding  in  her  own  ear  as  soon 
as  they  were  poured  into  another. 

"  I  have  always  hoped,"  she  repeated,  as 
he  seated  himself,   "that  you   would  talk 


The  Reign  of  Law  287 

with  me  about  these  things."  And  then  to 
divert  the  conversation  into  less  difficult 
channels,  she  added  :  — 

"As  to  what  you  may  think  of  my  beliefs, 
I  have  no  fear ;  they  need  not  be  discussed 
and  they  cannot  be  attacked." 

"  You  are  an  Episcopalian,"  he  suggested 
hesitatingly.  "  I  do  not  wish  to  be  rude, 
but  —  your  church  has  its  dogmas." 

"  There  is  not  a  dogma  of  my  church 
that  I  have  ever  thought  of  for  a  moment : 
or  of  any  other  church,"  she  replied  in 
stantly  and  clearly. 

In  those  simple  words  she  had  uttered 
unaware  a  long  historic  truth :  that  reli 
gion,  not  theology,  forms  the  spiritual  life 
of  women.  In  the  whole  history  of  the 
world's  opinions,  no  dogma  of  any  weight 
has  ever  originated  with  a  woman;  wherein, 
as  in  many  other  ways,  she  shows  points  of 
superiority  in  her  intellect.  It  is  a  man 
who  tries  to  apprehend  God  through  his 
logic  and  psychology;  a  woman  under 
stands  Him  better  through  emotions  and 
deeds.  It  is  the  men  who  are  concerned 


288  The  Reign  of  Law 

about  the  cubits,  the  cedar  wood,  the  Urim 
and  Thummirn  of  the  Tabernacle;  woman 
walks  straight  into  the  Holy  of  Holies, 
Men  constructed  the  Cross ;  women  wept 
for  the  Crucified.  It  was  a  man  —  a  Jew 
defending  his  faith  in  his  own  supernatural 
revelation  —  who  tried  to  ram  a  sponge  of 
vinegar  into  the  mouth  of  Christ,  dying ; 
it  was  women  who  gathered  at  the  sepul 
chre  of  Resurrection.  If  Christ  could  have 
had  a  few  women  among  his  Apostles, 
there  might  have  been  more  of  His  religion 
in  the  world  and  fewer  creeds  barnacled  on 
the  World's  Ship  of  Souls. 

*'  How  can  you  remain  in  your  church 
without  either  believing  or  disbelieving  its 
dogmas  ?  "  asked  David,  squarely. 

"  My  church  is  the  altar  of  Christ  and 
the  house  of  God,"  replied  Ga briella,  sim 
ply.  "  And  so  is  any  other  church."  That 
was  all  the  logic  she  had  and  all  the  faith 
she  needed ;  beyond  that  limit  she  did  not 
even  think. 

"  And  you  believe  in  them  all? M  he 
asked  with  wondering  admiration. 


The  Reign  of  Law  289 

"  I  believe  in  them  all" 

"  Once  I  did  also,"  observed  David, 
reverently  and  with  new  reverence  for 
her. 

"  What  I  regret  is  that  you  should  have 
thrown  away  your  religion  on  account  of 
your  difficulties  with  theology.  Nothing 
more  awful  could  have  befallen  you  than 
that" 

"  It  was  the  churches  that  made  the  dif 
ficulties,"  said  David,  "  I  did  not  But 
there  is  more  than  theology  in  it  You  do 
not  know  what  I  think  about  religions  — 
revelations — inspirations  —  man's  place  in 
nature." 

"  What  do  you  think  ? "  she  asked  eagerly. 
"I  suppose  now  I  shall  hear  something 
about  those  great  books." 

She  put  herself  at  ease  in  her  chair  like 
one  who  prepares  to  listen  quietly. 

"  Shall  I  tell  you  how  the  whole  argu 
ment  runs  as  I  have  arranged  it  ?  I  shall 
have  to  begin  far  away  and  come  down  to 
the  subject  by  degrees."  He  looked  apolo 
getic. 


290  The  Reign  of  Law 

"  Tell  me  everything;  I  have  been  wait 
ing  a  long  time." 

David  reflected  a  few  moments  and  then 
began :  — 

"  The  first  of  my  books  as  I  have  arranged 
them,  considers  what  we  call  the  physical 
universe  as  a  whole  —  our  heavens  —  the 
stars  —  and  discusses  the  little  that  man 
knows  about  it.  I  used  to  think  the  earth 
was  the  centre  of  this  universe,  the  most 
important  world  in  it,  on  account  of  Man. 
That  is  what  the  ancient  Hebrews  thought. 
In  this  room  float  millions  of  dust-parti 
cles  too  small  to  be  seen  by  us.  To  say 
that  the  universe  is  made  for  the  sake  of 
the  earth  would  be  something  like  saying 
that  the  earth  was  created  for  the  sake  of 
one  of  these  particles  of  its  own  dust." 

He  paused  to  see  how  she  received 
this. 

"That  ought  to  be  a  great  book,''  she 
said  approvingly.  "  I  should  like  to  study 
it." 

"  The  second  takes  up  that  small  part  of 
the  universe  which  we  call  our  solar  system 


The  Reign  of  Law  291 

and  sums  up  the  little  we  have  learned 
regarding  it.  I  used  to  think  the  earth 
the  most  important  part  of  the  solar  system, 
on  account  of  Man.  So  the  earliest  nat 
ural  philosophers  believed.  That  is  like 
believing  that  the  American  continent 
was  created  for  the  sake,  say,  of  my  father's 
farm." 

He  awaited  her  comment. 

"  That  should  be  a  great  book,"  she  said 
simply.  "  Some  day  let  me  see  that? 

"  The  third  detaches  for  study  one  small 
planet  of  that  system  —  our  earth  —  and 
reviews  our  latest  knowledge  of  that :  as 
to  how  it  has  been  evolved  into  its  present 
stage  of  existence  through  other  stages 
requiring  unknown  millions  and  millions 
and  millions  of  years.  Once  I  thought  it 
was  created  in  six  days.  So  it  is  written. 
Do  you  believe  that  ?  " 

There  was  silence. 

"  What  is  the  next  book  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  The  fourth,"  said  David,  with  a  twinkle 
in  his  eye  at  her  refusal  to  answer  his 
question,  "  takes  up  the  history  of  the 


2 92  The  Reign  of  Law 

earth's  surface  —  its  crust  —  the  layers  of 
this  —  as  one  might  study  the  skin  of  an 
apple  as  large  as  the  globe.  In  the  course 
of  an  almost  infinite  time,  as  we  measure 
things,  it  discovers  the  appearance  of  Life 
on  this  crust,  and  then  tries  to  follow  the 
progress  of  Life  from  the  lowest  forms  up 
ward,  always  upward,  to  Man  :  another  time 
infinitely  vast,  according  to  our  standards." 

He  looked  over  for  some  comment  but 
she  made  none,  and  he  continued,  his  inter 
est  deepening,  his  face  kindling: — - 

"  The  fifth  takes  up  the  subject  of  Man, 
as  a  single  one  of  the  myriads  of  forms  of 
Life  that  have  grown  on  the  earth's  crust, 
and  gives  the  best  of  what  we  know  of 
him  viewed  as  a  species  of  animal.  Does 
this  tire  you  ?  " 

Gabriella  made  the  only  gesture  of  dis 
pleasure  he  had  ever  seen. 

"  Now,"  said  David,  straightening  him 
self  up,  "  I  draw  near  to  the  root  of  the 
matter.  A  sixth  book  takes  up  what  we 
call  the  civilization  of  this  animal  species, 
Man.  It  subdivides  his  civilization  into 


The  Reign  of  Law  293 

different  civilizations.  It  analyzes  these 
civilizations,  where  it  is  possible,  into  their 
arts,  governments,  literatures,  religions, 
and  other  elements.  And  the  seventh," 
he  resumed  after  a  grave  pause,  scrutiniz 
ing  her  face  most  eagerly,  "  the  seventh 
takes  up  just  one  part  of  his  civilizations 
—  the  religions  of  the  globe  —  and  gives 
an  account  of  these.  It  describes  how 
they  have  grown  and  flourished,  how  some 
have  passed  as  absolutely  away  as  the  civ 
ilizations  that  produced  them.  It  teaches 
that  those  religions  were  as  natural  a  part 
of  those  civilizations  as  their  civil  laws, 
their  games,  their  wars,  their  philosophy ; 
that  the  religious  books  of  these  racei., 
which  they  themselves  often  thought  in 
spired  revelations,  were  no  more  inspired 
and  no  more  revelations  than  their  secular 
books;  that  Buddha's  faith  or  Brahma's 
were  no  more  direct  from  God  than  Bud 
dhistic  or  Brahman  temples  were  from  God ; 
that  the  Koran  is  no  more  inspired  than 
Moorish  architecture  is  inspired  ;  that  the 
ancient  religion  of  the  Jewish  race  stands 


294  The  Reign  of  Law 

on  the  same  footing  as  the  other  great  re 
ligions  of  the  globe  —  as  to  being  Super 
natural;  that  the  second  religion  of  the 
Hebrews,  starting  out  of  them,  but  rejected 
by  them,  the  Christian  religion,  the  greatest 
of  all  to  us,  takes  its  place  with  the  others 
as  a  perfectly  natural  expression  of  the 
same  human  desire  and  effort  to  find  God 
and  to  worship  Him  through  all  the  best 
that  we  know  in  ourselves  and  of  the  uni 
verse  outside  us." 

"  Ah,"  said  Gabriella,  suddenly  leaning 
forward  in  her  chair,  "  that  is  the  book  that 
has  done  all  the  harm." 

"  One  moment !  All  these  books,"  con 
tinued  David,  for  he  was  aroused  now  and 
did  not  pause  to  consider  her  passionate 
protest,  "  have  this  in  common :  that  they 
try  to  discover  and  to  trace  Law.  The 
universe  —  it  is  the  expression  of  Law. 
Our  solar  system.  —  it  has  been  formed  by 
Law,,  The  sun  —  the  driving  force  of  Law 
has  made  it.  Our  earth  —  Law  has  shaped 
that ;  brought  Life  out  of  it ;  evolved  Life 
on  it  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest ;  lifted 


The  Reign  of  Law  295 

primeval  Man  to  modern  Man;  out  of 
barbarism  developed  civilization;  out  of 
prehistoric  religions,  historic  religions. 
And  this  one  order  —  method  —  purpose 
—  ever  running  and  unfolding  through 
the  universe,  is  all  that  we  know  of  Him 
whom  we  call  Creator,  God,  our  Father. 
So  that  His  reign  is  the  Reign  of  Law. 
He,  Himself,  is  the  author  of  the  Law  that 
we  should  seek  Him.  We  obey,  and  our 
seekings  are  our  religions. 

"  If  you  ask  me  whether  I  believe  in  the 
God  of  the  Hebrews,  I  say  '  Yes ' ;  just 
as  I  believe  in  the  God  of  the  Babylonians, 
of  the  Egyptians,  of  the  Greeks,  of  the 
Romans,  of  all  men.  But  if  you  ask 
whether  I  believe  what  the  Hebrews  wrote 
of  God,  or  what  any  other  age  or  people 
thought  of  God,  I  say  '  No.'  I  believe 
what  the  best  thought  of  my  own  age 
thinks  of  Him  in  the  light  of  man's  whole 
past  and  of  our  greater  present  knowledge 
of  the  Laws  of  His  universe,"  said  David, 
stoutly,  speaking  for  his  masters. 

"  As   for   the   theologies,"   he   resumed 


296  The  Reign  of  Law 

hastily,  as  if  not  wishing  to  be  interrupted, 
"  I  know  of  no  book  that  has  undertaken 
to  number  them.  They,  too,  are  part  of 
Man's  nature  and  civilization,  of  his  never 
ceasing  search.  But  they  are  merely  what 
he  thinks  of  God  —  never  anything  more. 
They  often  contain  the  highest  thought 
of  which  he  is  capable  in  his  time  and 
place ;  but  the  awful  mistake  and  cruelty  of 
them  is  that  they  have  regularly  been  put 
forth  as  the  voice  of  God  Himself,  author 
itative,  inviolable,  and  unchanging.  An 
assemblage  of  men  have  a  perfect  right  to 
turn  a  man  out  of  their  church  on  theo 
logical  grounds ;  but  they  have  no  right  to 
do  it  in  the  name  of  God.  With  as  much 
propriety  a  man  might  be  expelled  from  a 
political  party  in  the  name  of  God.  In 
the  long  life  of  any  one  of  the  great  reli 
gions  of  the  globe,  how  many  brief  theolo 
gies  have  grown  up  under  it  like  annual 
plants  under  a  tree  !  How  many  has  the 
Christian  religion  itself  sprouted,  nourisheds 
and  trampled  down  as  dead  weeds  !  What 
do  we  think  now  of  the  Christian  theology 


The  Reign  of  Law  297 

of  the  tenth  century  ?  of  the  twelfth  ?  of 
the  fifteenth  ?  In  the  nineteenth  century 
alone,  how  many  systems  of  theology  have 
there  been  ?  In  the  Protestantism  of  the 
United  States,  how  many  are  there  to-day  ? 
Think  of  the  names  they  bear  —  older  and 
newer !  According  to  founders,  and  places, 
and  sources,  and  contents,  and  methods  : 
Arminian  —  Augustinian  —  Calvinistic  — 
Lutheran  —  Gallican  —  Genevan  —  Mer- 
cersburg —  New  England  —  Oxford  —  na 
tional  —  revealed  —  Catholic  —  evangelical 

—  fundamental  —  historical  —  homiletical 

—  moral  --  mystical  —  pastoral  —  practi 
cal  —  dogmatic  —  exegetical  —  polemic  — 
rational  —  systematic.    That  sounds  a  little 
like  Polonius,"  said  David,  stopping  sud 
denly,  "  but  there  is  no  humor  in  it !    One 
great  lesson  in  the  history  of  them  all  is 
not  to  be  neglected :    that  through  them 
also   runs    the   great    Law  of    Evolution, 
of  the  widening  thoughts  of  men ;  so  that 
now,  in    civilized   countries    at   least,    the 
churches  persecute  to  the  death  no  longer. 
You  know  what  the  Egyptian  Priesthood 


298  The  Reign  of  Law 

would  have  done  with  me  at  my  trial. 
What  the  Mediaeval  hierarchy  would  have 
done.  What  the  Protestant  or  the  Cath 
olic  theology  of  two  centuries  ago  might 
have  done.  Now  mankind  is  developing 
better  ideas  of  these  little  arrangements  of 
human  psychology  on  the  subject  of  God, 
though  the  churches  still  try  to  enforce 
them  in  His  name.  But  the  time  is  com 
ing  when  the  churches  will  be  deserted  by 
all  thinking  men,  unless  they  cease  trying 
to  uphold,  as  the  teachings  of  God,  mere 
creeds  of  their  ecclesiastical  founders. 
Very  few  men  reject  all  belief  in  God ;  and 
it  is  no  man's  right  to  inquire  in  what  any 
man's  belief  consists;  men  do  reject  and 
have  a  right  to  reject  what  some  man  writes 
out  as  the  eternal  truth  of  the  matter. 

"  And  now,"  he  said,  turning  to  her  sor 
rowfully,  "  that  is  the  best  or  the  worst  of 
what  I  believe — -according  as  one  may  like 
it  or  not  like  it.  I  see  all  things  as  a  growth, 
a  sublime  unfolding  by  the  Laws  of  God* 
The  race  ever  rises  toward  Him.  The  old 
things  which  were  its  best  once  die  off  from 


The  Reign  of  Law  299 

it  as  no  longer  good.  Its  chanty  grows,  its 
justice  grows.  All  the  nobler,  finer  ele 
ments  of  its  spirit  come  forth  more  and 
more  —  a  continuous  advance  along  the 
paths  of  Law.  And  the  better  the  world,  v 
the  larger  its  knowledge,  the  easier  its 
faith  in  Him  who  made  it  and  who  leads  it 
on.  The  development  of  Man  is  itself  the 
great  Revelation  of  Him!  But  I  have 
studied  these  things  ignorantly,  only  a  little 
while.  I  am  at  the  beginning  of  my  life, 
and  hope  to  grow.  Still  I  stand  where  I 
have  placed  myself.  And  now,  are  you  like 
the  others:  do  you  give  me  up  ? " 

He  faced  her  with  the  manner  in  which 
he  had  sat  before  his  professors,  conceiving 
himself  as  on  trial  a  second  time.  He  had 
in  him  the  stuff  of  martyrs  and  was  pre 
pared  to  stand  by  his  faith  at  the  cost  of 
all  things. 

The  silence  in  the  room  lasted.  Her 
feeling  for  him  was  so  much  deeper  than 
all  this  —  so  centred,  not  in  what  his  faith 
was  to  her  but  in  what  he  was  to  her,  that 
she  did  not  trust  herself  to  speak.  He  was 


300  The  Reign  of  Law 

not  on  trial  in  these  matters  in  the  least: 
without  his  knowing  it,  he  had  been  on 
trial  in  many  other  ways  for  a  long  time, 

He  misunderstood  her  silence,  read 
wrongly  her  expression  which  was  obeying 
with  some  severity  the  need  she  felt  to 
conceal  what  she  had  no  right  to  show. 

"Ah,  well!  Ah,  well!"  he  cried  pite- 
ously,  rising  slowly. 

When  she  saw  his  face  a  moment  later 
across  the  room  as  he  turned,  it  was  the 
face  she  had  first  seen  in  the  dark  street. 
It  had  stopped  her  singing  then  ;  it  drew 
an  immediate  response  from  her  now.  She 
crossed  over  to  him  and  took  one  of  his 
hands  in  both  of  hers.  Her  cheeks  were 
flushed,  her  voice  trembled. 

"  I  am  not  your  judge,"  she  said,  "  and  in 
all  this  there  is  only  one  thing  that  is  too 
sad,  too  awful,  for  me  to  accept.  I  am  sorry 
you  should  have  been  misled  into  believ 
ing  that  the  Christian  religion  is  nothing 
more  than  one  of  the  religions  of  the  world, 
and  Christ  merely  one  of  its  religious  teach 
ers.  I  wish  with  all  my  strength  you  be- 


The  Reign  of  Law  301 

lieved  as  you  once  believed,  that  the  Bible 
is  a  direct  Revelation  from  God,  making 
known  to  us,  beyond  all  cloubt,  the  Resur 
rection  of  the  dead,  the  Immortality  of  the 
Soul,  in  a  better  world  than  this,  and  the 
presence  with  us  of  a  Father  who  knows 
our  wants,  pities  our  weakness,  and  answers 
our  prayers.  But  I  believe  you  will  one 
day  regain  your  faith  :  you  will  come  back 
to  the  Church." 

He  shook  his  head. 

"  Don't  be  deceived,"  he  said. 

"  Men,  great  men,  have  said  that  before 
and  they  have  come  back.  I  am  a  woman, 
and  these  questions  never  trouble  us;  but 
is  it  not  a  common  occurrence  that  men 
who  think  deeply  on  such  mysteries  pass 
through  their  period  of  doubt  ?  " 

"  But  suppose  I  never  pass  through 
mine !  You  have  not  answered  my  ques 
tion,"  he  said  determinedly.  "  Does  this 
make  no  difference  in  your  feeling  for  me  ? 
Would  it  make  none  ?  " 

"  Will  you  bring  me  that  book  on  the 
religions  of  the  world  ?  " 


302  The  Reign  of  Law 

"  Ah,"  he  said,  "  you  have  not  answered.** 

"  I  have  told  you  that  I  am  not  your 
judge." 

"Ah,  but  that  tells  nothing:  a  woman 
is  never  a  judge.  She  is  either  with  one 
or  against  one." 

"  Which  do  I  look  like  ?  "  —  she  laughed 
evasively  — - "  Mercy  or  Vengeance  ?  And 
have  you  forgotten  that  it  is  late  —  too  late 
to  ask  questions  ?  " 

He  stood,  comprehending  her  doubt 
fully,  with  immeasurable  joy,  and  then 
went  out  to  get  his  overcoat 

"  Bring  your  things  in  here,"  she  said, "  it 
is  cold  in  the  hall.  And  wrap  up  warmly ! 
That  is  more  important  than  all  the  Gene 
van  and  the  homiletical !  " 

He  bade  her  good  night,  subdued  with 
happiness  that  seemed  to  blot  out  the 
troublous  past,  to  be  the  beginning  of  new 
life.  New  happiness  brought  new  awk 
wardness  :  — 

"  This  was  not  my  regular  night,"  he 
said  threateningly.  "  I  came  to-night  in 
stead  of  to-morrow  night." 


The  Reign  of  Law  303 

Gabriella  could  answer  a  remark  like  that 
quickly  enough. 

"  Certainly :  it  is  hard  to  wait  even  for  a 
Alight  pleasure,  and  it  is  best  to  be  through 
with  suffering." 

He  looked  as  if  cold  water  and  hot  water 
had  been  thrown  on  him  at  the  same  time: 
he  received  shocks  of  different  kinds  and 
was  doubtful  as  to  the  result.  He  shook 
his  head  questioningly. 

"  I  may  do  very  well  with  science,  but  I 
am  not  so  sure  about  women." 

"  Aren't  women  science  ?  " 

"  They  are  a  branch  of  theology,"  he 
said ;  "  they  are  what  a  man  thinks  about 
when  he  begins  to  probe  his  Destiny ! " 

XVII 

DAVID  slept  peacefully  that  night,  like  a 
man  who  has  reached  the  end  of  long  sus 
pense.  When  he  threw  his  shutters  open 
late,  he  found  that  the  storm  had  finished 
its  work  and  gone  and  that  the  weather 
had  settled  stinging  cold.  The  heavens 


304  The  Reign  of  Law 

were  hyacinth,  the  ground  white  with  snow, 
and  the  sun.  day-lamp  of  that  vast  ceiling 
of  blue,  made  the  earth  radiant  as  for  the 
bridal  morn  of  Winter.  So  his  thoughts 
ran. 

"  Gabriella !  Gabriella !  "  he  cried,  as  he 
beheld  the  beauty,  the  purity,  the  breadth, 
the  clearness.  "It  is  you  — except  the 
coldness,  the  cruelty." 

All  day  then  those  three:  the  hyacin- 
thine  sky,  the  flashing  lamp,  the  white 
earth,  with  not  one  crystal  thawing. 

It  being  Saturday,  there  was  double  work 
for  him.  He  knocked  up  the  wood  for 
that  day  and  for  Sunday  also,  packed  and 
stored  it ;  cut  double  the  quantity  of  oats ; 
threw  over  twice  the  usual  amount  of  fod 
der.  The  shocks  were  buried.  He  had  hard 
kicking  to  do  before  he  reached  the  rich 
brown  fragrant  stalks.  Afterwards  he  made 
paths  through  the  snow  about  the  house  for 
his  mother ;  to  the  dairy,  to  the  hen-house. 
In  the  wooden  monotony  of  her  life  an  in 
terruption  in  these  customary  visits  would 
have  been  to  her  a  great  loss.  The  snow 


The  Reign  of  Law  305 

being  over  the  cook's  shoe-tops,  he  took  a 
basket  and  dug  the  vegetables  out  of  the 
holes  in  the  garden. 

In  the  afternoon  he  had  gone  to  the 
pond  in  the  woods  to  cut  a  drinking  place 
for  the  cattle.  As  he  was  returning  with 
his  axe  on  his  shoulder,  the  water  on  it 
having  instantly  frozen,  he  saw  riding  away 
across  the  stable  lot,  the  one  of  their  neigh 
bors  who  was  causing  him  so  much  trouble 
about  the  buying  of  the  farm.  He  stopped 
hot  with  anger  and  watched  him. 

In  those  years  a  westward  movement  was 
taking  place  among  the  Kentuckians  —  a 
sad  exodus.  Many  families  rendered  insol 
vent  or  bankrupt  by  the  war  and  the  loss 
of  their  slaves,  while  others  interspersed 
among  them  had  grown  richer  by  Govern 
ment  contracts,  were  now  being  bought 
out,  forced  out,  by  debt  or  mortgage,  and 
were  seeking  new  homes  where  lay  cheaper 
lands  and  escape  from  the  suffering  of 
living  on,  ruined,  amid  old  prosperous 
acquaintances.  It  was  a  profound  historic 
disturbance  of  population,  destined  later  on 


306  The  Reign  of  Law 

to  affect  profoundly  many  younger  com 
monwealths.  This  was  the  situation  now 
bearing  heavily  on  David's  father,  on  three 
sides  of  whose  fragmentary  estate  lay  rich 
neighbors,  one  of  whom  especially  desired 
it. 

The  young  man  threw  his  axe  over  his 
shoulder  again  and  took  a  line  straight 
toward  the  house. 

"  He  shall  not  take  advantage  of  my 
father's  weakness  again,"  he  said,  "  nor 
shall  he  use  to  further  his  purposes  what 
I  have  done  to  reduce  him  to  this  want." 

He  felt  sure  that  this  pressure  upon  his 
father  lay  in  part  back  of  the  feeling  of 
his  parents  toward  him.  His  expulsion 
from  college  and  their  belief  that  he  was 
a  failure;  the  fact  that  for  three  years 
repairs  had  been  neglected  and  improve 
ments  allowed  to  wait,  in  order  that  all 
possible  revenues  might  be  collected  for 
him;  even  these  caused  them  less  acute 
distress  than  the  fear  that  as  a  consequence 
they  should  now  be  forced  so  late  in  life  to 
make  that  mournful  pilgrimage  into  strange 


The  Reign  of  Law  307 

regions.  David  was  saddened  to  think  that 
ever  at  his  father's  side  sat  his  mother,  irri 
tating  him  by  dropping  all  day  into  his  ear 
the  half  idle,  half  intentional  words  which 
are  the  water  that  wears  out  the  rock. 

The  young  man  walked  in  a  straight  line 
toward  the  house,  determined  to  ascertain 
the  reason  of  this  last  visit,  and  to  have 
out  the  long-awaited  talk  with  his  father. 
He  reached  the  yard  gate,  then  paused  and 
wheeled  abruptly  toward  the  barn. 

"  Not  to-day,"  he  said,  thinking  of  Ga- 
briella  and  of  his  coming  visit  to  her  now 
but  a  few  hours  off.  "  To-morrow !  Day 
after  to-morrow !  Any  time  after  this ! 
But  no  quarrels  to-day ! "  and  his  face 
softened. 

Before  the  barn  door,  where  the  snow  had 
been  tramped  down  by  the  stock  and  seeds 
of  grain  lay  scattered,  he  flushed  a  flock  of 
little  birds,  nearly  all  strangers  to  each  other. 
Some  from  the  trees  about  the  yard ;  some 
from  the  thickets,  fences,  and  fields  farther 
away.  As  he  threw  open  the  barn  doors, 
a  few  more,  shyer  still,  darted  swiftly  into 


308  The  Reign  of  Law 

hiding.  He  heard  the  quick  heavy  flap  of 
wings  on  the  joists  of  the  oats  loft  over 
head,  and  a  hawk  swooped  out  the  back 
door  and  sailed  low  away. 

The  barn  had  become  a  battle-field  of 
hunger  and  life.  This  was  the  second  day 
of  famine- — all  seeds  being  buried  first 
under  ice  and  now  under  snow;  swift 
hunger  sending  the  littler  ones  to  this 
granary,  the  larger  following  to  prey  on 
them.  To-night  there  would  be  owls  and 
in  the  darkness  tragedies.  In  the  morning, 
perhaps,  he  would  find  a  feather  which  had 
floated  from  a  breast.  A  hundred  years 
ago,  he  reflected,  the  wolves  would  have 
gathered  here  also  and  the  cougar  and  the 
wildcat  for  bigger  game. 

It  was  sunset  as  he  left  the  stable,  his 
work  done.  Beside  the  yard  gate  there 
stood  a  locust  tree,  and  on  a  bough  of  this,, 
midway  up,  for  he  never  goes  to  the  tree 
tops  at  this  season,  David  saw  a  cardinal 
He  was  sitting  with  his  breast  toward  the 
clear  crimson  sky ;  every  twig  around  him 
silver  filigree ;  the  whole  tree  glittering 


The  Reign  of  Law  309 

with  a  million  gems  of  rose  and  white, 
gold  and  green  ;  and  wherever  a  fork,  there 
a  hanging  of  snow.  The  bird's  crest  was 
shot  up.  He  had  come  forth  to  look 
abroad  upon  this  strange  wreck  of  nature 
and  peril  to  his  kind.  David  had  scarcely 
stopped  before  him  when  with  a  quick  shy 
movement  he  dived  down  into  one  of  his 
ruined  winter  fortresses  —  a  cedar  dismem 
bered  and  flattened  out,  never  to  rise 
again. 

The  supper  that  evening  was  a  very 
quiet  one.  David  felt  that  his  father's 
eyes  were  often  on  him  reproachfully ;  and 
that  his  mother's  \vere  approvingly  on  his 
father's.  Time  and  again  during  the  meal 
the  impulse  well-nigh  overcame  him  to 
speak  to  his  father  then  and  there ;  but  he 
knew  it  would  be  a  cruel,  angry  scene  ;  and 
each  time  the  face  of  Gabriella  restrained 
him.  It  was  for  peace  ;  and  his  heart  shut 
out  all  discord  from  around  that  new  ten 
derer  figure  of  her  which  had  come  forth 
within  him  this  day. 

Soon  even  the  trouble  at  home  was  for- 


3io  The  Reign  of  Law 

gotten ;  he  was  on  his  way  through  the 
deep  snow  toward  her. 


XVIII 

GABRIELLA  had  brought  with  her  into 
this  neighborhood  of  good-natured,  non- 
reading  people  the  recollections  of  litera 
ture.  These  became  her  library  of  the 
mind;  and  deep  joy  she  drew  from  its 
invisible  volumes.  She  had  transported  a 
fine  collection  of  the  heroes  and  heroines 
of  good  fiction  (Gabriella,  according  to  the 
usage  of  her  class  and  time,  had  never 
read  any  but  standard  works).  These, 
when  the  earlier  years  of  adversity  came 
on,  had  been  her  second  refuge  from 
the  world :  religion  was  the  first.  Now 
they  were  the  means  by  which  she  re 
turned  to  the  world  in  imagination.  The 
failure  to  gather  together  so  durable  a 
company  of  friends  leaves  every  mind  the 
more  destitute  —  especially  a  woman's, 
which  has  greater  need  to  live  upon  ideals, 
and  cannot  always  find  these  in  actual 


The  Reign  of  Law  3 1 1 

life.  Then  there  were  short  poems  and 
parts  of  long  poems,  which  were  as  texts 
out  of  a  high  and  beautiful  Gospel  of 
Nature.  One  of  these  was  on  the  snow 
storm  ;  and  this  same  morning  her  mem 
ory  long  was  busy,  fitting  the  poem  within 
her  mind  to  the  scenery  around  the  farm 
house,  as  she  passed  joyously  from  window 
to  window,  looking  out  far  and  near. 

There  it  all  was  as  the  great  New  Eng 
land  poet  had  described  it :  that  masonry 
out  of  an  unseen  quarry,  that  frolic  archi 
tecture  of  the  snow,  night- work  of  the 
North  Wind,  fierce  artificer.  In  a  few 
hours  he  had  mimicked  with  wild  and 
savage  fancy  the  structures  which  human 
art  can  scarce  rear,  stone  by  stone,  in  an 
age :  white  bastions  curved  with  projected 
roof  round  every  windward  stake  or  tree 
or  door;  the  gateway  overtopped  with 
tapering  turrets ;  coop  and  kennel  hung 
mockingly  with  Parian  wreaths ;  a  swan- 
like  form  investing  the  hidden  thorn. 

From  one  upper  window  under  the  blue 
sky  in  the  distance  she  could  see  what  the 


312  The  Reign  of  Law 

poet  had  never  beheld:  a  field  of  hemp 
shocks  looking  like  a  winter  camp,  daz- 
zlingly  white.  The  scene  brought  to  her 
mind  some  verses  written  by  a  minor 
Kentucky  writer  on  his  own  soil  and 
people. 

SONG   OF  THE   HEMP 

Ah,  gentle  are  the  days  when  the  Year  is  young 
And  rolling  fields  with  rippling  hemp  are  green 

And  from  old  orchards  pipes  the  thrush  at  morn, 
No  land,  no  land  like  this  is  yet  unsung 

Where  man  and  maid  at  twilight  meet  unseen 
And  Love  is  born. 

Oh,  mighty  summer  days  and  god  of  flaming  tress 
When  in  the  fields  full-headed  bends  the  stalk, 

And  blossoms  what  was  sown  ! 
No  land,  no  land  like  this  for  tenderness 
When  man  and  maid  as  one  together  walk 
And  Love  is  grown. 

Oh,  dim,  dim  autumn  days  of  sobbing  rain 
When  on  the  fields  the  ripened  hemp  is  spread 

And  woods  are  brown. 
tfo  land,  no  land  like  this  for  mortal  pain 
When  Love  stands  weeping  by  the  sweet,  sweet  be<i 
For  Love  cut  down. 


INTO  ITS  LARGENESS,  ITS  WOODLAND  ODORS,  AND  TWILIGHT 
PEACE." 

(See  page  363.) 


The  Reign  of  Law  313 

Ah,  dark,  unfathomably  dark,  white  winter  days 
When  falls  the  sun  from  out  the  crystal  deep 

On  muffled  farms. 
No  land,  no  land  like  this  for  God's  sad  ways 

When  near  the  tented  fields  Love's  Soldier  lies  asleep 
With  empty  arms. 

The  verses  were  too  sorrowful  for  this 
day,  with  its  new,  half-awakened  hap 
piness.  Had  Gabriella  been  some  strong- 
minded,  uncompromising  New  England 
woman,  she  might  have  ended  her  associa 
tion  with  David  the  night  before  —  taking 
her  place  triumphantly  beside  an  Accusing 
Judge.  Or  she  might  all  the  more  fiercely 
have  set  on  him  an  acrid  conscience,  and 
begun  battling  with  him  through  the 
evidences  of  Christianity,  that  she  might 
save  his  soul.  But  this  was  a  Southern 
girl  of  strong,  warm,  deep  nature,  who  felt 
David's  life  in  its  simple  entirety,  and  had 
no  thought  of  rejecting  the  whole  on 
account  of  some  peculiarity  in  one  of  its 
parts  ;  the  white  flock  was  more  to  her 
than  one  dark  member.  Inexpressibly 
dear  and  sacred  as  was  her  own  church, 


314  The  Reign  of  Law 

her  own  faith,  she  had  never  been  taught 
to  estimate  a  man  primarily  with  reference 
to  his.  What  was  his  family,  how  he 
stood  in  his  profession,  his  honorable 
character,  his  manners,  his  manhood  — 
these  were  what  Gabriella  had  always 
been  taught  to  look  for  first  in  a  man. 

In  many  other  ways  than  in  his  faith 
and  doubt  David  was  a  new  type  of  man 
to  her.  He  was  the  most  religious,  the 
only  religious,  one  she  had  ever  known  — 
a  new  spiritual  growth  arising  out  of  his 
people  as  a  young  oak  out  of  the  soil. 
Had  she  been  familiar  with  the  Greek 
idea,  she  might  have  called  him  a  Ken 
tucky  autochthon.  It  was  the  first  time 
also  that  she  had  ever  encountered  in  a 
Kentuckian  the  type  of  student  mind  — 
that  fitness  and  taste  for  scholarship  which 
sometimes  moves  so  unobtrusively  and 
rises  so  high  among  that  people,  but  is 
usually  unobserved  unless  discovered  pre 
eminent  and  commanding  far  from  the 
confines  of  the  state. 

Touching   his    scepticism   she    looked 


Tke  Reign  of  Law  315 

upon  him  still  as  she  had  thought  of  him 
at  first,  —  as  an  example  of  a  sincere  soul 
led  astray  for  a  time  only.  Strange  as 
were  his  views  (and  far  stranger  they 
seemed  in  those  years  than  now),  she  felt 
no  doubt  that  when  the  clouds  marshalled 
across  his  clear  vision  from  the  minds  of 
others  had  been  withdrawn,  he  would 
once  more  behold  the  Sun  of  Righteous 
ness  as  she  did.  Gabriella  as  by  intuition 
reasoned  that  a  good  life  most  often  leads 
to  a  belief  in  the  Divine  Goodness ;  that  as 
we  understand  in  others  only  what  we  are 
in  ourselves,  so  it  is  the  highest  elements 
of  humanity  that  must  be  relied  upon  to 
believe  in  the  Most  High :  and  of  David's 
lofty  nature  she  possessed  the  whole  history 
of  his  life  as  evidence. 

Her  last  act,  then,  the  night  before  had 
been,  in  her  nightgown,  on  her  knees,  to 
offer  up  a  prayer  that  he  might  be  saved 
from  the  influences  of  false  teachers  and 
guided  back  to  the  only  Great  One.  But 
when  a  girl,  with  all  the  feelings  which 
belong  to  her  at  that  hour,  seeks  this  pure 


3i 6  The  Reign  of  Law 

audience  and  sends  upward  the  name  of  a 
man  on  her  spotless  prayers,  he  is  already 
a  sacred  happiness  to  her  as  well  as  a  care. 

On  this  day  she  was  radiant  with  tender 
happiness.  The  snow  of  itself  was  exhila 
rating.  It  spread  around  her  an  enchanted 
land.  It  buried  out  of  sight  in  the  yard 
and  stable  lots  all  mire,  all  ugly  things. 
This  ennoblement  of  external  objects  re 
acted  with  comic  effect  on  the  interior  of 
the  house  itself;  outside  it  was  a  marble 
palace,  surrounded  by  statuary ;  within  — 
alas !  It  provoked  her  humor,  that  inno 
cent  fun-making  which  many  a  time  had 
rendered  her  environment  the  more  toler 
able. 

When  she  went  down  into  the  parlor 
early  that  evening  to  await  David's  com 
ing,  this  gayety,  this  laughter  of  the  gener 
ations  of  men  ,and  women  who  made  up 
her  past,  possessed  her  still.  She  made  a 
fresh  investigation  of  the  parlor,  took  a 
new  estimate  of  its  peculiar  furnishings. 
The  hearthstones — lead  color.  The  mohair 
furniture  —  cold  at  all  temperatures  of  the 


The  Reign  of  Law  317 

room  and  slippery  in  every  position  of  the 
body.  The  little  marble-top  table  on  which 
rested  a  glass  case  holding  a  stuffed  blue 
jay  clutching  a  varnished  limb:  tail  and 
eyes  stretched  beyond  the  reach  of  muscles. 
Near  the  door  an  enormous  shell  which, 
on  summer  days,  the  cook  blew  as  a  dinner 
horn  for  the  hands  in  the  field.  A  collec 
tion  of  ambrotypes  which,  no  matter  how 
held,  always  caused  the  sitter  to  look  as 
though  the  sun  was  shining  in  his  eyes. 
The  violence  of  the  Brussels  carpet.  But 
the  cheap  family  portraits  in  thin  wooden 
frames  —  these  were  Gabriella's  delight  in 
a  mood  like  this. 

The  first  time  she  saw  these  portraits, 
she  turned  and  walked  rapidly  out  of  the 
parlor.  She  had  enough  troubles  of  her 
own  without  bearing  the  troubles  of  all 
these  faces.  Later  on  she  could  confront 
them  with  equanimity  —  that  company  of 
the  pallid,  the  desperately  sick,  the  unac 
countably  uncomfortable.  All  looked,  not 
as  though  there  had  been  a  death  in  the 
family,  but  a  death  in  the  collection  :  only 


318  The  Reign  of  Law 

the  same  grief  could  have  so  united  them 
as  mourners.  And  whatever  else  they 
lacked,  each  showed  two  hands,  the  full 
number,  placed  where  they  were  sure  to 
be  counted. 

She  was  in  the  midst  of  this  psycho 
logical  reversion  to  ancestral  gayety  when 
David  arrived.  Each  looked  quickly  at 
the  other  with  unconscious  fear.  Within 
a  night  and  a  day  each  had  drawn  nearer 
to  the  other;  and  each  secretly  inquired 
whether  the  other  now  discovered  this 
nearness.  Gabriella  saw  at  least  that  he, 
too,  was  excited  with  happiness. 

He  appeared  to  her  for  the  first  time 
handsome.  He  was  better  looking.  When 
one  approaches  the  confines  of  love,  one 
nears  the  borders  of  beauty.  Nature  sets 
going  a  certain  work  of  decoration,  of 
transformation.  Had  David  about  this 
time  been  a  grouse,  he  would  probably 
have  displayed  a  prodigious  ruff.  Had  he 
been  a  bulbul  and  continued  to  feel  as  he 
did,  he  would  have  poured  into  the  ear  of 
night  such  roundelays  as  had  never  been 


The  Reign  of  Law  319 

conceived  of  by  that  disciplined  singer. 
Had  he  been  a  master  violinist,  he  would 
have  been  unable  to  play  a  note  from  a 
wild  desire  to  flourish  the  bow.  He  had 
long  stood  rooted  passively  in  the  soil  of 
being  like  a  century  plant  when  it  is 
merely  keeping  itself  in  existence.  But 
latterly,  feeling  in  advance  the  approach 
of  the  Great  Blossoming  Hour,  he  had 
begun  to  shoot  up  rapidly  into  a  lofty  life- 
stalk  ;  there  were  inches  of  the  rankest 
growth  on  him  within  the  last  twenty-four 
hours.  To-night  he  was  not  even  serious 
in  his  conversation ;  and  therefore  he  was 
the  more  awkward.  His  emotions  were 
unmanageable ;  much  more  his  talk.  But 
she  who  witnesses  this  awkwardness  and 
understands  —  does  she  ever  fail  to  pardon? 

"  Last  night,"  he  said  with  a  droll  twinkle, 
after  the  evening  was  about  half  spent, 
"  there  was  one  subject  I  did  not  speak  to 
you  about  —  Man's  place  in  Nature,  Have 
you  ever  thought  about  that  ?  " 

"  I've  been  too  busy  thinking  about  my 
place  in  the  school ! "  said  Gabriella 


320  The  Reign  of  Law 

laughing  —  Gabriella  who  at  all  times  was 
simplicity  and  clearness. 

"  You  see  Nature  does  nothing  for  Man 
except  what  she  enables  him  to  do  for  him 
self.  In  this  way  she  has  made  a  man  of 
him ;  she  has  given  him  his  resources  and 
then  thrown  him  upon  them.  Beyond 
that  she  cares  nothing,  does  nothing,  pro 
vides,  arranges  nothing.  I  used  to  think, 
for  instance,  that  the  greenness  of  the  earth 
was  intended  for  his  eyes  —  all  the  loveli 
ness  of  spring.  On  the  contrary,  she 
merely  gave  him  an  eye  which  has  adapted 
itself  to  get  pleasure  out  of  the  greenness. 
The  beauty  of  spring  would  have  been  the 
same,  year  after  year,  century  after  century, 
had  he  never  existed.  And  the  blue  of  the 
sky — I  used  to  think  it  was  hung  about 
the  earth  for  his  sake ;  and  the  colors  of 
the  clouds,  the  great  sunsets.  But  the 
blueness  of  the  sky  is  nothing  but  the  dust 
of  the  planet  floating  deep  around  it,  too 
light  to  sink  through  the  atmosphere,  but 
reflecting  the  rays  of  the  sun.  These  rays 
fall  on  the  clouds  and  color  them.  It 


The  Reign  of  Law  321 

would  all  have  been  so,  had  Man  never 
been  born.  The  earth's  springs  of  drink 
ing  water,  refreshing  showers,  the  rainbow 
on  the  cloud,  —  they  would  have  been  the 
same,  had  no  human  being  ever  stood  on 
this  planet  to  claim  them  for  a.ges  as  the 
signs  of  providence  and  of  covenant." 

Gabriella  had  her  own  faith  as  to  the 
rainbow. 

"  So,  none  of  the  other  animals  was  made 
for  Man,"  resumed  David,  who  seemed  to 
have  some  ulterior  purpose  in  all  this.  "  I 
used  to  think  the  structure  and  nature  of 
the  ass  were  given  him  that  he  might  be 
adapted  to  bear  Man's  burdens  ;  they  were 
given  him  that  he  might  bear  his  own  bur 
dens,  Horses  were  not  made  for  cavalry. 
And  a  camel  —  I  never  doubted  that  he 
was  a  wonderful  contrivance  to  enable  man 
to  cross  the  desert ;  he  is  a  wonderful  con 
trivance  in  order  that  the  contrivance  itself 
may  cross  the  desert." 

"  I  hope  I  may  never  have  to  use  one," 
said  Gabriella,  "  when  I  commence  to  ride 
again.  I  prefer  horses  and  carriages  — 


322  The  Reign  of  Law 

though  I  suppose  you  would  say  that 

the  carriage  was  designed  for  me  and  that 

I  had  no  right  to  be  drawn  in  that  way." 

"  Some  day  a  horse  may  be  designed  for 
you,  just  as  the  carnage  is.  We  do  not 
use  horses  on  railroads  now ;  we  did  use 
them  at  first  in  Kentucky.  Sometime  you 
may  not  use  horses  in  your  carriage.  You 
may  have  a  horse  that  was  designed  for 
you." 

"  I  think,"  said  Gabriella,  "  I  should  pre 
fer  a  horse  that  was  designed  for  itself." 

"  And  so,"  resumed  David,  moving 
straight  on  toward  his  concealed  climax, 
"if  I  were  a  poet,  I'd  never  write  poems 
about  flowers  and  clouds  and  lakes  and 
mountains  and  moonbeams  and  all  that; 
those  things  are  not  for  a  man.  If  I  were 
a  novelist,  I'd  never  write  stories  about  a 
grizzly  bear,  or  a  dog,  or  a  red  bird.  If  I 
were  a  sculptor,  I'd  not  carve  a  lynx  or  a 
lion.  If  I  were  a  painter,  I'd  never  paint 
sheep.  In  all  this  universe  there  is  only 
one  thing  that  Nature  ever  created  for  a 
man.  I'd  write  poems  about  that  one 


The  Reign  of  Law  323 

thing!  I'd  write  novels  about  it!  I'd 
paint  it !  I'd  carve  it !  I'd  compose  music 
to  it ! " 

"Why,  what  is  that?"  said  Gabriella, 
led  sadly  astray. 

"  A  woman  !  "  said  David  solemnly,  turn 
ing  red. 

Gabriella  fled  into  the  uttermost  caves 
of  silence. 

"  And  there  was  only  one  thing  ever 
made  for  woman." 

"  I  understand  perfectly." 

David  felt  rebuffed.  He  hardly  knew 
why.  But  after  a  moment  or  two  of  silence 
he  went  on,  still  advancing  with  rough 
paces  toward  his  goal :  — 

"  Sometimes,"  he  said  mournfully,  "  it's 
harder  for  a  man  to  get  the  only  thing  in 
the  world  that  was  ever  made  for  him  than 
anything  else !  This  difficulty,  however, 
appertains  exclusively  to  the  human  spe 
cies." 

Gabriella  touched  her  handkerchief 
quickly  to  her  lips  and  held  it  there. 

"  But  then,  many  curious  things  are  true 


324  The  Reign  of  Law 

of  our  species,"  he  continued,  with  his  eyes 
on  the  fire  and  in  the  manner  of  a  soliloquy, 
"  that  never  occur  elsewhere.  A  man,  for 
instance,  is  the  only  animal  that  will  settle 
comfortably  down  for  the  rest  of  its  days 
to  live  on  the  exertions  of  the  female." 

"It  shows  how  a  woman  likes  to  be 
depended  on,"  said  Gabriella,  with  her  deep 
womanliness. 

"  Tom-cats  of  the  fireside,"  said  David, 
"who  are  proud  of  what  fat  mice  their 
wives  feed  them  on.  It  may  show  what 
you  say  in  the  nature  of  the  woman.  But 
what  does  it  show  in  the  nature  of  the 
man  ? " 

"  That  depends." 

"  I  don't  think  it  depends,"  replied  David. 
"  I  think  it  is  either  one  of  the  results  of 
Christianity  or  a  survival  of  barbarism. 
As  one  of  the  results  of  Christianity,  it 
demonstrates  what  women  will  endure 
when  they  are  imposed  upon.  As  a  relic 
of  barbarism  —  when  it  happens  in  our 
country  —  why  not  regard  it  as  derived 
from  the  North  American  Indians? 


The  Reign  of  Law  325 

chiefs  lounged  around  the  house  and 
smoked  the  best  tobacco  and  sent  the 
squaws  out  to  work  for  them.  Occasion 
ally  they  broke  silence  by  briefly  declaring 
that  they  thought  themselves  immortal." 

Gabriella  tried  to  draw  the  conversation 
into  other  channels,  but  David  was  not  to 
be  diverted. 

"  It  has  been  a  great  fact  in  the  history 
of  your  sex,"  he  said,  looking  across  at  her, 
with  a  shake  of  his  head,  as  though  she 
did  not  appreciate  the  subject,  "  that  idea 
that  everything  in  the  universe  was  made 
for  Man." 

"  Why  ?  'r  inquired  Gabriella,  resigning 
herself  to  the  perilous  and  the  irresist 
ible. 

"  Well,  in  old  times  it  led  men  to  think 
that  since  everything  else  belonged  to 
them,  so  did  woman  :  therefore  when  they 
wanted  her  they  did  not  ask  for  her ;  they 
took  her." 

41  It  is  much  better  arranged  at  present, 
whatever  the  reason." 

"  Now  a  man    cannot   always   get  one, 


326  The  Reign  of  Law 

even  when  he  asks  for  her,"  and  David 
turned  red  again  and  knotted  his  hands. 

"  I  am  so  glad  the  schoolhouse  was  not 
damaged  by  the  storm,"  observed  Gabriella, 
reflecting. 

David  fell  into  a  revery  but  presently 
awoke. 

"There  are  more  men  than  women  in 
the  world.  On  an  average,  that  is  only  a 
fraction  of  a  woman  to  every  man.  Still 
the  men  cannot  take  care  of  them.  But  it 
ought  to  be  a  real  pleasure  to  every  man 
to  take  care  of  an  entire  woman." 

"  Did  you  ever  notice  the  hands  in  that 
portrait  ? " 

David  glanced  at  the  portrait  without 
noticing  it,  and  went  his  way. 

"  Since  a  man  knows  nothing  else  was 
created  for  him,  he  feels  his  loneliness 
without  her  so  much  more  deeply.  They 
ought  to  be  very  good  and  true  to  each 
other  —  a  man  and  a  woman  —  since  they 
two  are  alone  in  the  universe." 

He  gulped  down  his  words  and  stood 
up,  trembling. 


The  Reign  of  Law  327 

"  I  must  be  going,"  he  said,  without  even 
looking  at  Gabriella,  and  went  out  into  the 
hall  for  his  coat. 

"  Bring  it  in  here,"  she  called.  "  It  is 
cold  out  there."  She  watched  how  careless 
he  was  about  making  himself  snug  for  his 
benumbing  walk.  He  had  a  woollen  com 
forter  which  he  left  loosely  tied  about  his 
neck. 

"  Tie  it  closer,"  she  commanded.  "  You 
had  a  cold  last  night,  and  it  is  worse  to 
night.  Tuck  it  in  close  about  your  neck." 

David  made  the  attempt.  He  was  not 
thinking. 

"This  way!"  And  Gabriella  showed 
him  by  using  her  fingers  around  her  own 
neck  and  collar. 

He  tried  again  and  failed,  standing  before 
her  with  a  mingling  of  embarrassment  and 
stubborn  determination. 

"  That  will  never  do ! "  she  cried  with 
genuine  concern.  She  took  hold  of  the 
comforter  by  the  ends  and  drew  the  knot 
up  close  to  his  throat,  he  lifting  his  head 
to  receive  it  as  it  came.  Then  David 


328  The  Reign  of  Law 

with  his  eyes  on  the  ceiling  felt  his  coat 
collar  turned  up  and  her  soft  warm  fingers 
tucking  the  comforter  in  around  his  neck. 
When  he  looked  down,  she  was  standing 
over  by  the  fireplace. 

"  Good  night,"  she  said  positively,  with  a 
quick  gesture  of  dismissal  as  she  saw  the 
look  in  his  eyes. 

Each  of  the  million  million  men  who 
made  up  the  past  of  David,  that  moment 
reached  a  hand  out  of  the  distance  and 
pushed  him  forward.  But  of  them  all 
there  was  none  so  helpless  with  modesty, 
—  so  in  need  of  hiding  from  every  eye, — 
even  his  own, —  the  sacred  annals  of  that 
moment. 

He  was  standing  by  the  table  on  which 
burned  the  candles.  He  bent  down  quickly 
and  blew  them  out  and  went  over  to  her 
by  the  dim  firelight. 

XIX 

ALL  high  happiness  has  in  it  some 
element  of  love ;  all  love  contains  a  desire 


The  Reign  of  Law  329 

for  peace.  One  immediate  effect  of  new 
happiness,  new  love,  is  to  make  us  turn 
toward  the  past  with  a  wish  to  straighten 
out  its  difficulties,  heal  its  breaches,  for 
give  its  wrongs.  We  think  most  hope 
fully  of  distressing  things  which  may  still 
be  remedied,  most  regretfully  of  others  that 
have  passed  beyond  our  reach  and  will. 

It  was  between  ten  and  eleven  o'clock 
of  the  next  day — Sunday.  David's  cold 
had  become  worse.  He  had  turned  over 
necessary  work  to  the  negro  man  and 
stayed  quietly  in  his  room  since  the  silent 
breakfast.  Two  or  three  books  chosen 
carelessly  out  of  the  trunk  lay  on  his  table 
before  the  fire :  interest  had  gone  out  of 
them  this  day.  With  his  face  red  and 
swollen,  he  was  sitting  beside  this  table 
with  one  hand  loosely  covering  the  for 
gotten  books,  his  eyes  turned  to  the 
window,  but  looking  upon  distant  inward 
scenes. 

Sunday  morning  between  ten  and 
eleven  o'clock !  the  church-going  hour  of 
his  Bible-student  life.  In  imagination  he 


330  The  Reign  of  Law 

could  hear  across  these  wide  leagues  of 
winter  land  the  faint,  faint  peals  of  the 
church  bells  which  were  now  ringing. 
He  was  back  in  the  town  again  — -  up  at 
the  college  —  in  his  room  at  the  dormi 
tory;  and  it  was  in  the  days  before  the 
times  of  his  trouble.  The  students  were 
getting  ready  for  church,  with  freshly 
shaved  faces,  boots  well  blacked,  best  suits 
on,  not  always  good  ones.  He  could  hear 
their  talk  in  the  rooms  around  his,  hear 
fragments  of  hymns,  the  opening  and 
shutting  of  doors  along  the  hallways,  and 
the  running  of  feet  down  the  stairs.  By 
ones  and  twos  and  larger  groups  they 
passed  down  and  out  with  their  hymnalss 
Testaments,  sometimes  blank  books  for 
notes  on  the  sermon.  Several  thrust 
bright,  cordial  faces  in  at  the  door,  as  they 
passed,  to  see  whether  he  and  his  room 
mate  had  started. 

The  scene  changed.  He  was  in  the 
church,  which  was  crowded  from  pulpit  to 
walls.  He  was  sitting  under  the  chande 
lier  in  the  choir,  the  number  of  the  first 


The  Reign  of  Law  331 

hymn  had  just  been  whispered  along,  and 
he  began  to  sing,  with  hundreds  of  others, 
the  music  which  then  released  the  pinions 
of  his  love  and  faith  as  the  air  releases  the 
wings  of  a  bird.  The  hymn  ceased ;  he 
could  see  the  pastor  rise  from  behind  the 
pulpit,  advance,  and  with  a  gesture  gather 
that  sea  of  heads  to  prayer.  He  could 
follow  the  sermon,  most  of  all  the  exhorta 
tion;  around  him  was  such  stillness  in  the 
church  that  his  own  heart-beats  were 
audible.  Then  the  Supper  and  then  home 
to  the  dormitory  again  —  with  a  pain  of 
happiness  filling  him,  the  rest  and  the 
unrest  of  consecration. 

Many  other  scenes  he  lived  through  in 
memory  this  morning  —  once  lived  in 
reality  amid  that  brotherhood  of  souls. 
His  tenderest  thoughts  perhaps  dwelt 
on  the  young  men's  prayer-meetings  oi 
Sunday  afternoons  at  the  college.  There 
they  drew  nearest  to  the  Eternal  Strength 
which  was  behind  their  weakness,  and 
closest  to  each  other  as  student  after 
student  lifted  a  faltering,  stumbling  pet! 


332  The  Reign  of  Law 

tion  for  a  common  blessing  on  their  work. 
The  Immortal  seemed  to  be  in  that  bare 
room,  filling  their  hearts  with  holy  flame, 
drawing  around  them  the  isolation  of  a 
devoted  band.  They  were  one  in  One. 
Then  had  followed  the  change  in  him 
which  produced  the  change  in  them:  no 
fellowship,  no  friendship,  with  an  unbe 
liever  ;  and  he  was  left  without  a  comrade. 

His  heart  was  yearning  and  sick  this 
day  to  be  reconciled  to  them  all.  How 
did  they  think  of  him,  speak  of  him,  now  ? 
Who  slept  in  his  bed  ?  Who  sat  a  little 
while,  after  the  studies  of  the  night  were 
over,  talking  to  his  room-mate  ?  Who 
knelt  down  across  the  room  at  his  prayers 
when  the  lights  were  put  out  ?  And  his 
professors  —  what  bulwarks  of  knowledge 
and  rectitude  and  kindness  they  were ! 
—  all  with  him  at  first,  all  against  him  at 
last,  as  in  duty  bound. 

To  one  man  alone  among  those  hun 
dreds  could  David  look  back  as  having 
begun  to  take  interest  in  him  toward  the 
close  of  his  college  days.  During  that 


The  Reign  of  Law  333 

vacation  which  he  had  spent  in  reading 
and  study,  he  had  often  refreshed  himself 
by  taking  his  book  out  to  the  woodland 
park  near  the  city,  which  in  those  days  was 
the  grounds  of  one  of  the  colleges  of  the 
University.  There  he  found  the  green 
wild  country  again,  a  forest  like  his  pioneer 
ancestor's.  Regularly  here  he  observed  at 
out-of-door  work  the  professor  of  Physical 
Science,  who  also  was  pressing  his  inves 
tigations  forward  during  the  leisure  of 
those  summer  months.  An  authority 
from  the  north,  from  a  New  England 
university,  who  had  resigned  his  chair  to 
come  to  Kentucky,  attracted  by  the  fair 
prospects  of  the  new  institution.  A  great 
gray-bearded,  eagle-faced,  square-shoul 
dered,  big-footed  man :  reserved,  absorbed, 
asking  to  be  let  alone,  one  of  the  silent 
masters.  But  David,  desperate  with  intel 
lectual  loneliness  himself,  and  knowing 
this  man  to  be  a  student  of  the  new 
science,  one  day  had  introduced  himself 
and  made  inquiry  about  entering  certain 
classes  in  his  course  the  following  session. 


334  The  Reign  of  Law 

The  professor  shook  his  head.  He  was 
going  back  to  New  England  himself  the 
next  year ;  and  he  moved  away  under  the 
big  trees,  resuming  his  work. 

As  troubles  had  thickened  about  David, 
his  case  became  discussed  in  University 
circles ;  and  he  was  stopped  on  the  street 
one  day  by  this  frigid  professor  and  greeted 
with  a  man's  grasp  and  a  look  of  fresh 
beautiful  affection.  His  apostasy  from 
dogmatism  had  made  him  a  friend  of  that 
lone  thinker  whose  worship  of  God  was 
the  worship  of  Him  through  the  laws  of 
His  universe  and  not  through  the  dogmas 
of  men. 

This  professor  —  and  Gabriella:  they 
alone,  though  from  different  motives,  had 
been  drawn  to  him  by  what  had  repelled 
all  others.  It  was  his  new  relation  to  her 
beyond  anything  else  that  filled  David  this 
day  with  his  deep  desire  for  peace  with 
his  past.  She  had  such  peace  in  herself, 
such  charity  of  feeling,  such  simple  stead 
fast  faith :  she  cast  the  music  of  these  upon 
the  chords  of  his  own  soul.  To  the  influ- 


The  Reign  of  Law  335 

ence  of  her  religion  she  was  now  adding 
the  influence  of  her  love ;  it  rilled  him, 
subdued,  overwhelmed  him.  And  this 
morning,  also  out  of  his  own  happiness  he 
remembered  with  most  poignant  suffering 
the  unhappiness  of  his  father.  His  own 
life  was  unfolding  into  fulness  of  affection 
and  knowledge  and  strength ;  his  father's 
was  closing  amid  the  weakness  and  troubles 
that  had  gathered  about  him ;  and  he, 
David,  had  contributed  his  share  to  these. 
To  be  reconciled  to  his  father  this  day  — 
that  was  his  sole  thought. 

It  was  about  four  o'clock.  The  house 
held  that  quiet  which  reigns  of  a  Sunday 
afternoon  when  the  servants  have  left  the 
kitchen  for  the  cabin,  when  all  work  is 
done,  and  the  feeling  of  Sunday  rest  takes 
possession  of  our  minds.  The  winter 
sunshine  on  the  fields  seems  full  of  rest ; 
the  brutes  rest  —  even  those  that  are  not 
beasts  of  burden.  The  birds  appear  to 
know  the  day,  and  to  make  note  of  it  in 
quieter  twitter  and  slower  flight. 

David  rose  resolutely  and  started  down- 


336  The  Reign  of  Law 

stairs.  As  he  entered  his  fathers  room,  his 
mother  was  passing  out.  She  looked  at  her 
son  with  apprehension,  as  she  closed  the 
door.  His  father  was  sitting  by  a  window, 
reading,  as  was  his  Sunday  wont,  the  Bible. 
He  had  once  written  to  David  that  his 
had  always  been  a  religious  people ;  it  was 
true.  A  grave,  stern  man  —  sternest,  grav 
est  on  Sunday.  When  it  was  not  possible 
to  go  to  church,  the  greater  to  him  the 
reason  that  the  house  itself  should  become 
churchlike  in  solemnity,  out  of  respect  to 
the  day  and  the  duty  of  self-examination. 
A  man  of  many  failings,  but  on  this  sub 
ject  strong. 

David  sat  down  and  waited  for  him  to 
reach  the  end  of  the  page  or  chapter. 
But  his  father  read  on  with  a  slow  per 
ceptible  movement  of  his  lips. 

"  Father." 

The  gray  head  was  turned  slowly 
toward  him  in  silent  resentment  of  the 
interruption. 

"  I  thought  it  would  be  better  to  come 
down  and  talk  with  you." 


The  Reign  of  Law  337 

The  eyes  resought  the  page,  the  lips 
resumed  their  movements. 

"  I  am  sorry  to  interrupt  you." 

The  eye  still  followed  the  inspired 
words,  from  left  to  right,  left  to  right,  left 
to  right. 

"  Father,  things  ought  not  to  go  on  in 
this  way  between  us.  I  have  been  at 
home  now  for  two  months.  I  have  waited, 
hoping  that  you  would  give  me  the  chance 
to  talk  about  it  all.  You  have  declined, 
and  meantime  I  have  simply  been  at  work, 
as  I  used  to  be.  But  this  must  not  be  put 
off  longer  for  several  reasons.  There  are 
other  things  in  my  life  now  that  I  have  to 
think  of  and  care  for."  The  tone  in  which 
David  spoke  these  last  words  was  unusual 
and  significant. 

The  eyes  stopped  at  a  point  on  the  page. 
The  lips  were  pressed  tightly  together. 

David  rose  and  walked  quietly  out  of  the 
room.  After  he  had  closed  the  door  be 
hind  him  and  put  his  foot  on  the  stairs,  he 
stopped  and  with  fresh  determination  re 
opened  the  door.  His  father  had  shut  the 


338  The  Reign  of  Law 

Bible,  laid  it  on  the  floor  at  the  side  of  his 
chair,  and  was  standing  in  the  middle  of 
the  room  with  his  eyes  on  the  door  through 
which  David  had  passed.  He  pointed  to 
his  son  to  be  seated,  and  resumed  his  chair. 
He  drew  his  penknife  from  his  pocket  and 
slowly  trimmed  the  ravellings  from  his 
shirt-cuffs,  blowing  them  off  his  wrists. 
David  saw  that  his  hands  were  trembling 
violently.  The  tragedy  in  the  poor  action 
cut  him  to  the  heart  and  he  threw  himself 
remorsefully  into  the  midst  of  things. 

"  Father,  I  know  I  have  disappointed 
you!  Know  it  as  well  as  you  do;  but  I 
could  not  have  done  differently." 

"You  not  believe  in  Christianity!  You 
not  believe  the  Bible  !  " 

The  suppressed  enraged  voice  summed 
up  again  the  old  contemptuous  opinion. 

The  young  man  felt  that  there  was 
another  than  himself  whom  it  wounded. 

"  Sir,  you  must  not  speak  to  me  with  that 
feeling !  Try  to  see  that  I  am  as  sincere 
as  you  are.  As  to  the  goodness  of  my 
mind,  I  did  not  derive  it  from  myself 


The  Reign  of  Law  339 

and  am  not  to  blame.  I  have  only  made 
an  earnest  and  an  honest  use  of  what 
mind  was  given  me.  But  I  have  not 
relied  upon  it  alone.  There  are  great 
men,  some  of  the  greatest  minds  of  the 
world,  who  have  been  my  teachers  and 
determined  my  belief." 

"  All  your  life  you  had  the  word  of  God 
as  your  teacher  and  you  believed  it.  Now 
these  men  tell  you  not  to  believe  it  and 
you  believe  them.  And  then  you  complain 
that  I  do  not  think  more  highly  of  you." 

"  Father,"  cried  David,  "  there  is  one 
man  whose  name  is  very  dear  to  us  both. 
The  blood  of  that  man  is  in  me  as  it  is  in 
you.  Sir,  it  is  your  grandfather.  Do  you 
remember  what  the  church  of  his  day  did 
with  him  ?  Do  you  forget  that,  standing 
across  the  fields  yonder,  is  the  church  he 
himself  built  to  freedom  of  opinion  in  reli 
gious  matters  ?  I  grew  up,  not  under  the 
shadow  of  that  church,  for  it  casts  none, 
but  in  the  light  of  it.  I  have  seen  many 
churches  worship  there.  I  have  had  before 
me,  from  the  time  I  could  remember,  my 


34-O  The  Reign  of  Law 

great-grandfather's  words :  they  seemed 
to  me  the  voice  of  God  by  whom  all  men 
were  created,  and  the  spirit  of  Christ  by 
whom,  as  you  believe,  men  are  to  be 
saved." 

The  younger  man  stopped  and  waited 
in  vain  for  the  older  one  to  reply.  But  his 
father  also  waited,  and  David  went  on :  - 

"  I  do  not  expect  you  to  stand  against 
the  church  in  what  it  has  done  with  me : 
that  had  to  be  done.  If  you  had  been  an 
elder  of  that  church,  I  know  you,  too, 
would  have  voted  to  expel  me.  What  I  do 
ask  of  you  is  that  you  think  me  as  sincere 
in  my  belief  as  I  think  you  in  yours.  I 
do  ask  for  your  toleration,  your  charity. 
Everything  else  between  us  will  be  easy, 
if  you  can  see  that  I  have  done  only  what 
I  could.  The  faith  of  the  world  grows, 
changes.  Sons  cannot  always  agree  with 
their  fathers;  otherwise  the  world  would 
stand  still.  You  do  not  believe  many 
things  your  own  grandfather  believed — the 
man  of  whose  memory  you  are  so  proud. 
The  faith  you  hold  did  not  even  exist 


The  Reign  of  Law  34* 

among  men  in  his  day.  I  can  no  longer 
agree  with  you :  I  do  not  think  the  less  of 
you  because  I  believe  differently:  do  not 
think  the  less  of  me ! " 

The  young  man  could  not  enter  into 
any  argument  with  the  old  one.  He 
would  not  have  disturbed  if  he  could  his 
father's  faith :  it  was  too  late  in  life  for 
that.  Neither  could  he  defend  his  own 
views  without  attacking  his  father's :  that 
also  would  have  been  cruelty  in  itself  and 
would  have  been  accepted  as  insulting,, 
Still  David  could  not  leave  his  case  with 
out  witnesses. 

"  There  are  things  in  the  old  Bible  that 
no  scholar  now  believes." 

"  The  Almighty  declares  they  are  true ; 
you  say  they  are  not :  I  prefer  to  believe 
the  Almighty.  Perhaps  He  knows  better 
than  you  and  the  scholars." 

David  fell  into  sorrowful  silence. 

"  There  are  some  other  matters  about 
which  I  should  like  to  speak  with  you, 
father,"  he  said,  changing  the  subject. 
"  I  recall  one  thing  you  said  to  me  the 


342  The  Reign  of  Law 

day  I  came  home.  You  asked  me  why  I 
had  come  back  here :  do  you  still  feel  that 
way  ? " 

"  I  do.  This  is  a  Christian  house. 
This  is  a  Christian  community.  You  are 
out  of  place  under  this  roof  and  in  this 
neighborhood.  Life  was  hard  enough  for 
your  mother  and  me  before.  But  we  did 
for  you  what  we  could ;  you  were  pleased 
to  make  us  this  return.  It  will  be  better 
for  you  to  go.5" 

Every  word  seemed  to  have  been  ham 
mered  out  of  iron,  once  melted  in  the 
forge,  but  now  cold  and  unchangeably 
shaped  to  its  heavy  purpose.  The  young 
man  writhed  under  the  hopelessness  of 
the  situation :  — 

"  Sir,  is  it  all  on  one  side  1  Have  I 
done  nothing  for  you  in  all  these  years  ? 
Until  I  was  nearly  a  man's  age,  did  I  not 
work?  For  my  years  of  labor  did  I 
receive  more  than  a  bare  living?  Did 
you  ever  know  a  slave  as  faithful  ?  Were 
you  ever  a  harsh  master  to  this  slave  ? 
Do  you  owe  me  nothing  for  all  those 


The  Reign  of  Law  343 

years? — I  do  not  mean  money,™ I  mean 
kindness,  justice !  " 

"  How  many  years  before  you  began  to 
work  for  us  did  your  mother  and  I  work 
for  you  ?  Did  you  owe  us  nothing  for  all 
that?" 

"  I  did !  I  do !  I  always  shall !  But 
do  you  count  it  against  me  that  Nature 
brought  me  forth  helpless  and  kept  me 
helpless  for  so  many  years  afterwards  ? 
If  my  being  born  was  a  fault,  whose  was 
it  ?  Is  the  dependence  of  an  infant  on  its 
parent  a  debt  ?  Father !  father !  Be  just ! 
be  just  I  that  you  may  be  more  kind  to 


me." 


"  Kind  to  you  !  Just  to  yon  /" 
Hitherto  his  father  had  spoken  with  a 
quietude  which  was  terrible,  on  account 
of  the  passion  raging  beneath.  But  now 
he  sprang  to  his  feet,  strode  across,  and, 
pulling  a  ragged  shirt-cuff  down  from 
under  his  coat-sleeve,  shook  it  in  his 
son's  eyes  —  poverty.  He  went  to  one  of 
the  rotting  doors  and  jerking  it  open  with 
out  turning  the  knob,  rattled  it  on  its 


344  The  Reign  of  Law 

loose  hinges  —  poverty.  He  turned  to 
the  window,  and  with  one  gesture  de 
picted  ruined  outhouses  and  ruined  barns 
now  hidden  under  the  snow,  and  beautiful 
in  the  Sunday  evening  light  —  poverty. 
He  turned  and  faced  his  son,  majestic  in 
mingled  grief  and  care. 

"  Kind !  just !  you  who  have  trifled  with 
your  advantages,  you  who  are  sending 
your  mother  out  of  her  home  —  " 

David  sprang  toward  him  in  an  agony 
of  trouble  and  remorse. 

"  It  is  not  true,  it  is  not  necessary ! 
Father,  you  have  been  too  much  influ 
enced  by  my  mother's  fears.  This  is 
Bailey's  doing.  It  is  about  this  I  have 
wanted  to  talk  to  you.  I  shall  see  Bailey 
to-morrow." 

"  I  forbid  you  to  see  him  or  to  interfere." 

"  I  must  see  him,  whether  you  wish  it 
or  not,"  and  David,  to  save  other  hard 
words  that  were  coming,  turned  quickly 
and  left  the  room. 

He  did  not  go  down  to  supper.  Toward 
bedtime,  as  he  sat  before  his  fire,  he  heard 


The  Reign  of  Law  345 

a  slow,  unfamiliar  step  mounting  the  stair. 
Not  often  in  a  year  did  he  have  the  chance 
to  recognize  that  step.  His  mother  entered, 
holding  a  small  iron  stewpan,  from  under 
the  cover  of  which  steamed  a  sweet,  spicy 
odor. 

"  This  will  do  your  cold  good,"  she  said, 
tasting  the  stew  out  of  a  spoon  which  she 
brought  in  her  other  hand,  and  setting  it 
down  on  the  hot  hearth.  Then  she  stood 
looking  a  little  fearfully  at  her  son,  who 
had  not  moved.  Ah,  that  is  woman's 
way !  She  incites  men  to  a  difficulty,  and 
then  appears  innocently  on  the  battle-field 
with  bandages  for  the  belligerents.  How 
many  of  the  quarrels  of  this  world  has  she 
caused  —  and  how  few  ever  witnessed! 

David  was  sick  in  heart  and  body  and  kept 
his  chair  and  made  no  reply.  His  mother 
suddenly  turned,  feeling  a  cold  draft  on  her 
back,  and  observed  the  broken  window- 
pane  and  the  flapping  sheet  of  paper. 

"  There's  putty  and  glass  in  the  store 
room  :  why  don't  you  put  that  pane  of 
glass  in?" 


346  The  Reign  of  Law 

"  I  will  sometime,"  said  David,  absently. 

She  went  over  to  his  bed  and  beat  up 
the  bolster  and  made  everything  ready  for 
him. 

"  You  ought  to  have  clean  sheets  and 
pillow-cases,"  she  remarked  confidently; 
"  the  negroes  are  worthless.  Good  night," 
she  said,  with  her  hand  on  the  door,  look 
ing  back  at  him  timidly. 

He  sprang  up  and  went  over  to  her. 

"Oh,  mother!  mother!  mother!"  he 
cried,  and  then  he  checked  the  useless 
words  that  came  rushing  in  a  flood. 

"Good  night!  and  thank  you  for  com 
ing.  Good  night!  Be  careful,  I'll  bring 
the  candle,  the  stairway  is  dark.  Good 
night ! 

"Oh,  Gabriella!  Gabriella!"  he  mur 
mured  as  he  went  back  to  his  table.  He 
buried  his  head  on  his  arms  a  moment, 
then,  starting  up,  threw  off  his  clothes, 
drank  the  mixture,  and  got  into  bed. 


The  Reign  of  Law  347 


XX 

AT  dead  of  night  out  in  a  lonely  coun 
try,  what  sound  freezes  the  blood  like  the 
quick  cry  of  an  animal  seized  and  being- 
killed  ?  The  fright,  the  pain,  the  despair : 
whosoever  has  heard  these  notes  has  lis 
tened  to  the  wild  death-music  of  Nature^ 
ages  old. 

On  the  still  frozen  air  near  two  or  three 
o'clock  of  next  morning,  such  a  cry  rang 
out  from  inside  the  barn.  There  were 
the  short  rushes  to  and  fro,  round  and 
round ;  then  violent  leapings  against  the 
door,  the  troughs,  and  sides  of  the  stable ; 
then  mad  plunging,  struggling,  panting; 
then  a  long,  terrified,  weakened  wail,  which 
told  everything  beyond  the  clearness  of 
words. 

Up  in  his  room,  perfectly  dark,  for  the 
coals  in  the  grate  were  now  sparkless, 
David  was  lying  on  his  back,  sleeping 
heavily  and  bathed  in  perspiration.  Over 
heated,  he  had  pushed  the  bed  covers  off 


348  The  Reign  of  Law 

from  his  throat;  he  had  hollowed  the  pil 
low  away  from  his  face.  So  deep  was  the 
stillness  of  the  house  and  of  the  night  air 
outside,  that  almost  the  first  sounds  had 
reached  his  ear  and  sunk  down  into  his 
brain :  he  stirred  slightly.  As  the  tumult 
grew  louder,  he  tossed  his  head  from  side 
to  side  uneasily,  and  muttered  a  question 
in  his  broken  dreams.  And  now  the  barn 
was  in  an  uproar;  and  the  dog,  chained 
at  his  kennel  behind  the  house,  was  howl 
ing,  roaring  to  get  loose. 

Would  he  never  waken?  Would  the 
tragedy  which  he  himself  had  unwittingly 
planned  and  staged  be  played  to  its  end 
without  his  hearing  a  word  ?  (So  often  it 
is  that  way  in  life.)  At  last,  as  one  who 
has  long  tugged  at  his  own  sleep,  striving 
to  rend  it  as  a  smothering  blanket  and 
burst  through  into  free  air,  he  sat  up  in 
bed,  confused,  listening. 

"  Dogs ! "  he  exclaimed,  grinding  his 
teeth. 

He  was  out  of  bed  in  an  instant,  grop 
ing  for  his  clothes.  It  seemed  he  would 


The  Reign  of  Law  349 

never  find  them.  As  he  dressed,  he  mut 
tered  remorsefully  to  himself :  - 
s<  I  simply  put  them  into  a  trap." 
When  he  had  drawn  on  socks,  boots,  and 
trousers,  he  slipped  into  his  overcoat,  felt 
for  his  hat,  and  hurried  down.  He  released 
the  dog,  which  instantly  was  off  in  a  noise 
less  run,  and  followed,  buttoning  the  coat 
about  him  as  he  went :  the  air  was  like  ice 
against  his  bare,  hot  throat  Another  mo 
ment  and  he  could  hear  the  dogs  fighting. 
When  he  reached  the  door  of  the  shed 
and  threw  it  open,  the  flock  of  sheep 
bounded  out  past  him  in  a  wild  rush  for 
the  open.  He  stepped  inside,  searching 
around  with  his  foot  as  he  groped. 
Presently  it  struck  against  something 
large  and  soft  close  to  the  wall  in  a  cor 
ner.  He  reached  down  and  taking  it  by 
the  legs,  pulled  the  sheep  out  into  the 
moonlight,  several  yards  across  the  snow  : 
a  red  track  followed,  as  though  made  with 
a  broad  dripping  brush. 

David   stood   looking  down   at   it   and 
kicked  it  two  or  three  timese 


35O  The  Reign  of  Law 

"  Did  it  make  any  difference  to  you 
whether  your  life  were  taken  by  dog  or 
man  ?  The  dog  killing  you  from  instinct 
and  famine ;  a  man  killing  you  as  a  luxury 
and  with  a  fine  calculation?  And  who 
is  to  blame  now  for  your  death,  if  blame 
there  be  ?  I  who  went  to  college  instead 
of  building  a  stable  ?  Or  the  storm 
which  deprived  these  prowlers  of  nearer 
food  and  started  them  on  a  far  hunt,  des 
perate  with  hunger?  Or  man  who  took 
you  from  wild  Nature  and  made  you  more 
defenceless  under  his  keeping  ?  Or  Nature 
herself  who  edged  the  tooth  and  the  mind 
of  the  dog-wolf  in  the  beginning  that  he 
might  lengthen  his  life  by  shortening 
yours?  Where  and  with  what  purpose 
began  on  this  planet  the  taking  of  life 
that  there  might  be  life  ?  Poor  questions 
that  never  troubled  you,  poor  sheep !  But 
that  follow,  as  his  shadow,  pondering  Man, 
who  no  more  knows  the  reason  of  it  all 
than  you  did." 

The  fighting  of  the  dogs  had  for  the 
first  few  moments  sounded  farther  and 


The  Reign  of  Law  351 

farther  away,  retreating  through  the  barn 
and  thence  into  the  lot ;  and  by  and  by  the 
shepherd  ran  around  and  stood  before 
David,  awaiting  orders.  David  seized  the 
sheep  by  the  feet  and  dragged  it  into 
the  saddle-house;  sent  the  dog  to  watch 
the  rest  of  the  flock ;  and  ran  back  to  the 
house,  drawing  his  overcoat  more  tightly 
about  him.  As  quickly  as  possible  he  got 
into  bed  and  covered  up  warmly.  Some 
thing  caused  him  to  recollect  just  then 
the  case  of  one  of  the  Bible  students. 

"  Now  I  am  in  for  it,"  he  said. 

And  this  made  him  think  of  his  great 
masters  and  of  Gabriella ;  and  he  lay  there 
very  anxious  in  the  night. 

XXI 

TWILIGHT  had  three  times  descended  on 
the  drear  land.  Three  times  Gabriella, 
standing  at  her  windows  and  looking  out 
upon  the  snow  and  ice,  had  seen  everything 
disappear.  How  softly  white  were  the 
snow-covered  trees;  how  soft  the  black 


352  The  Reign  of  Law 

that  thickened  about  them  till  they  were 
effaced.  Gabriella  thought  of  them  as 
still  perfectly  white  out  there  in  the  dark 
ness.  Three  evenings  with  her  face 
against  the  pane  she  had  watched  for  a 
familiar  figure  to  stalk  towering  up  the 
yard  path,  and  no  familiar  figure  had  come. 
Three  evenings  she  had  returned  to  her 
firelight,  and  sat  before  it  with  an  ear  on 
guard  for  the  sound  of  a  familiar  step  on 
the  porch  below;  but  no  step  had  been 
heard. 

On  the  first  night  she  had  all  but  hoped 
that  he  would  not  seek  her;  the  avowal 
of  their  love  for  each  other  had  well-nigh 
left  it  an  unendurable  joy.  But  the  sec 
ond  night  she  had  begun  to  expect  him 
confidently ;  and  when  the  hour  had  passed 
and  he  had  not  come,  Gabriella  sat  long 
before  her  fire  with  a  new  wound  —  she 
who  had  felt  so  many.  By  the  third  day 
she  had  reviewed  all  that  she  had  ever 
heard  of  him  or  known  of  him :  gathered 
it  all  afresh  as  a  beautiful  thing  for  receiv 
ing  him  with  when  he  should  come  to  her 


The  Reign  of  Law  353 

that  night.  Going  early  to  her  room  she 
had  taken  her  chair  to  the  window  and 
with  her  face  close  to  the  pane  had  watched 
again  —  watched  that  white  yard;  and 
again  nothing  moved  in  that  white  yard 
but  the  darkness. 

She  sprang  up  and  began  to  walk  to  and 
fro. 

"  If  he  does  not  come  to-night,  something 
has  happened.  I  know,  I  know,  I  know ! 
Something  is  wrong.  My  heart  is  not 
mistaken.  Oh,  if  anything  were  to  hap 
pen  tc  him  !  I  must  not  think  of  it !  I 
have  borne  many  things;  but  that  I  I 
must  not  think  of  it  i " 

She  sank  into  her  chair  with  her  ear 
strained  toward  the  porch  below.  For  a 
long  time  there  was  no  sound.  Then  she 
heard  the  noise  of  heavy  boots  —  a  tapping 
of  the  toes  against  the  pillars,  to  knock  off 
the  snow,  and  then  the  slow  creaking  of 
soles  across  the  frozen  boards.  She  started 
up.  "  It  is  some  one  else,"  she  cried,  wring, 
ing  her  hands.  "  Something  has  happened 
to  him." 

2A 


354  The  Reign  of  Law 

She  stopped  still  in  the  middle  of  the 
room,  her  arms  dropped  at  her  sides,  her 
eyes  stretched  wide. 

The  house  girl's  steps  were  heard  run 
ning  upstairs.  Gabriella  jerked  the  door 
open  in  her  face. 

"  What  is  the  matter  ?  "  she  cried. 

A  negro  man  had  come  with  a  message 
for  her.  The  girl  looked  frightened, 
Gabriella  ran  past  her  down  into  the  hall 
"  What  is  the  matter?  "  she  asked. 

His  Marse  David  had  sent  for  her  and 
wanted  her  to  come  at  once.  He  had 
brought  a  horse  for  her. 

"  Is  he  ill  —  seriously  ill  ?  " 

He  had  had  a  bad  cold  and  was 
worse. 

"  The  doctor  —  has  he  sent  for  the 
doctor?" 

The  negro  said  that  he  was  to  take  her 
back  first  and  then  go  for  the  doctor. 

"  Go  at  once." 

It  was  very  dark,  he  urged,  and  slippery, 

"  Go  on  for  the  doctor !  Where  have 
you  left  the  horse  ?  " 


The  Reign  of  Law  355 

The  horse  was  at  the  stiles.  The  negro 
insisted  that  it  would  be  better  for  him  to 
go  back  with  her. 

"  Don't  lose  time,"  she  said,  "  and  don't 
keep  me  waiting.  Go  !  as  quickly  as  you 
can ! " 

The  negro  cautioned  her  to  dismount  at 
the  frozen  creek. 

When  Gabriella,  perhaps  an  hour  later, 
knocked  at  the  side  door  of  David's  home, 
—  his  father's  and  mother's  room,  —  there 
was  no  summons  to  enter.  She  turned 
the  knob  and  walked  in.  The  room  was 
empty ;  the  fire  had  burned  low ;  a  cat  lay 
on  the  hearthstones.  It  raised  its  head 
halfway  and  looked  at  her  through  the 
narrow  slits  of  its  yellow  eyes  and  curled 
the  tip  of  its  tail  —  the  cat  which  is  never 
inconvenienced,  which  shares  all  comforts 
and  no  troubles.  She  sat  down  in  a  chair, 
overcome  with  excitement  and  hesitating 
what  to  do.  In  a  moment  she  noticed 
that  the  door  opening  on  the  foot  of  the 
staircase  stood  ajar.  It  led  to  his  room, 
Not  a  sound  reached  her  from  above.  She 


356  The  Reign  of  Lain 

summoned  all  her  self-control,  mounted 
the  stairway,  and  entered. 

The  two  negro  women  were  standing 
inside  with  their  backs  to  the  door.  On 
'one  side  of  the  bed  sat  David's  mother,  on 
the  other  his  father.  Both  were  looking  at 
David.  He  lay  in  the  middle  of  the  bed, 
his  eyes  fixed  restlessly  on  the  door.  As 
soon  as  he  saw  her,  he  lifted  himself  with 
an  effort  and  stretched  out  his  arms  and 
shook  them  at  her  with  hoarse  little  cries. 

"Oh!  oh!  oh!  oh!" 

The  next  moment  he  locked  his  arms 
about  her. 

"  Oh,  it  has  been  so  long!"  he  said,  draw 
ing  her  close,  "  so  long ! " 

"  Ah,  why  did  you  not  send  for  me  ?  I 
have  waited  and  waited." 

He  released  her  and  fell  back  upon  the 
pillows  ;  then  with  a  slight  gesture  he  said 
to  his  father  and  mother :  — • 

"  Will  you  leave  us  alone  ?  " 

When  they  had  gone  out,  he  took  one 
of  her  hands  and  pressed  it  against  his 
cheek  and  lay  looking  at  her  piteously. 


The  Reign  of  Law  357 

Gabriella  saw  the  change  in  him :  his 
anxious  expression,  his  cheeks  flushed  with 
a  red  spot,  his  restlessness,  his  hand  burn 
ing.  She  could  feel  the  big  veins  throb 
bing  too  fast,  too  crowded.  But  a  woman 
smiles  while  her  heart  breaks. 

He  propped  himself  a  little  higher  on 
the  pillows  and  turned  on  his  side,  clutch 
ing  at  his  lung. 

"  Don't  be  frightened,"  he  said,  searching 
her  face,  "  I've  got  something  to  tell  you. 
Promise.'* 

"  I  promise." 

"  I  am  going  to  have  pneumonia,  or  I 
have  it  now.  You  are  not  frightened  ?  " 

Her  eyes  answered  for  her. 

"  I  had  a  cold.  I  had  taken  something 
to  throw  me  into  a  sweat  —  that  was  the 
night  after  I  saw  you." 

At  the  thought  of  their  last  interview, 
he  took  her  hand  again  and  pressed  it  to 
his  lips,  looking  tenderly  at  it. 

"  The  dogs  were  killing  the  sheep,  and  I 
got  up  and  went  out  while  I  was  in  a 
perspiration.  I  know  it's  pneumonia.  I 


35  8  The  Reign  of  Law 

have  had  a  long,  hard  chill.  My  head 
feels  as  if  it  would  burst,  and  there  are 
other  symptoms.  This  lung !  It's  pneu 
monia.  One  of  the  Bible  college  students 
had  it.  I  helped  to  nurse  him.  Oh,  he 
got  well,"  he  said,  shaking  his  head  at  her 
with  a  smile,  "  and  so  will  I ! " 

"  I  know  it,"  she  murmured,  "  I'm  sure 
of  it." 

"  What  I  want  to  ask  is,  Will  you  stay 
with  me  ? " 

"  Ah,  nothing  could  take  me  from  you.'* 

"  I  don't  want  you  to  leave  me.  I  want 
to  feel  that  you  are  right  here  by  me 
through  it  all.  I  have  to  tell  you  some 
thing  else :  I  may  be  delirious  and  not 
know  what  is  going  on.  I  have  sent  for 
the  doctor.  But  there  is  a  better  one  in 
Lexington.  You  try  to  get  him  to  come. 
I  know  that  he  goes  wherever  he  is  called 
and  stays  till  the  danger  is  past  or  —  or 
-till  it  is  settled.  Don't  spare  anything 
that  can  be  done  for  me.  I  am  in  danger, 
and  I  must  live.  I  must  not  lose  all  the 
greatness  of  life  and  lose  you." 


The  Reign  of  Law  359 

"  Ah,"  she  implored,  seeing  how  ill  he 
was.  "  Everything  that  can  be  done  shall 
be  done.  Now  oughtn't  you  to  be  quiet 
and  let  me  make  you  comfortable  till  the 
doctor  comes  ? " 

"  I  must  say  something  else  while  I  can, 
and  am  sure.  I  might  not  get  over 
this  —  " 

"Ah  —  " 

"  Let  me  say  this :  I  might  not !  If  I 
should  not,  have  no  fear  about  the  future ; 
I  have  none ;  it  will  all  be  well  with  me  in 
Eternity." 

He  lay  quiet  a  moment,  his  face  turned 
off.  She  had  buried  hers  on  the  bed.  The 
flood  of  tears  would  come.  He  turned 
over,  and  seeing  it  laid  his  hand  on  it  very 
lightly. 

"  If  it  be  so,  Gabriella,  I  hope  all  the 
rest  of  your  life  you  will  be  happy.  I  hope 
no  more  trouble  will  ever  come  to  you." 

Suddenly  he  sat  up,  lifted  her  head,  and 
threw  his  arms  around  her  again.  "  Oh, 
Gabriella !  "  he  cried,  "  you  have  been  all 
there  is  to  me. 


360  The  Reign  of  Law 

"  Some  day,"  he  continued  a  moment 
later,  "if  it  turns  out  that  way.  come  over 
here  to  see  my  father  and  mother.  And 
tell  them  I  left  word  that  perhaps  they  had 
never  quite  understood  rne  and  so  had 
never  been  able  to  do  me  justice.  Now> 
will  you  call  my  mother  ? 

"  Mother,"  he  said,  taking  her  by  the 
hand  and  placing  it  in  Gabriella's,  "  this 
is  my  wife,  as  I  hope  she  will  be,  and  your 
daughter ;  and  I  have  asked  her  to  stay  and 
help  you  to  nurse  me  through  this  cold." 

Three  twilights  more  and  there  was  a 
scene  in  the  little  upper  room  of  the  farm 
house:  David  drawn  up  on  the  bed;  at 
one  side  of  it,  the  poor  distracted  mother, 
rocking  herself  and  loudly  weeping;  for 
though  mothers  may  not  greatly  have  loved 
their  grown  sons,  when  the  big  men  lie 
stricken  and  the  mothers  once  more  take 
their  hands  to  wash  them,  bathe  their  faces 
with  a  cloth,  put  a  spoon  to  their  lips, 
memory  brings  back  the  days  when  those 
huge  erring  bodies  lay  across  their  breasts. 


T/ie  Reign  of  Law  361 

They  weep  for  the  infant,  now  an  infant 
again  and  perhaps  falling  into  a  long  sleep. 
On  the  other  side  of  the  bed  sat  David's 
father,  bending  over  toward,  trying  now, 
as  he  had  so  often  tried,  to  reach  his  son ; 
thinking  at  swift  turns  of  the  different  will 
he  would  have  to  make  and  of  who  would 
write  it;  of  his  own  harshness;  and  also 
not  free  from  the  awful  dread  that  this  was 
the  summons  to  his  son  to  enter  Eternity 
with  his  soul  unprepared.  At  the  foot  of 
the  bed  were  the  two  doctors,  watchful, 
whispering  to  each  other,  one  of  whom  led 
the  mother  out  of  the  room ;  over  by  the 
door  the  two  negro  women  and  the  negro 
man.  Gabriella  was  not  there. 

Gabriella  had  gone  once  more  to  where 
she  had  been  many  times :  gone  to  pour  out 
in  secret  the  prayer  of  her  church,  and  of 
her  own  soul  for  the  sick  —  with  faith  that 
her  prayer  would  be  answered. 

A  dark  hour:  a  dog  howling  on  the 
porch  below ;  at  the  stable  the  cries  of 
hungry,  neglected  animals;  the  winter 
hush  settling  over  the  great  evening  land 


362  The  Reign  of  Law 

XXII 

WHEN  one  sets  out  to  walk  daily  across 
a  wood  or  field  in  a  fresh  direction,  starting 
always  at  the  same  point  and  arriving 
always  at  the  same,  without  intention  one 
makes  a  path ;  it  may  be  long  first,  but  in 
time  the  path  will  come.  It  commences 
at  the  home  gate  or  bars  and  reaches 
forward  by  degrees ;  it  commences  at  the 
opposite  goal  and  lengthens  backward 
thence :  some  day  the  ends  meet  and  we 
discover  with  surprise  how  slightly  we 
have  deviated  in  all  those  crossings  and 
recrossingSc  The  mind  has  unconsciously 
marked  a  path  long  before  the  feet  have 
traced  it. 

When  Gabriella  had  begun  teaching, 
she  passed  daily  out  of  the  yard  into  an 
apple  orchard  and  thence  across  a  large 
woodland  pasture,  in  the  remote  corner 
of  which  the  schoolhouse  was  situated 
Through  this  woods  the  children  had 
made  their  path:  the  straight  instinctive 
path  of  childhood,  But  Gabriellas  leaving 


The  Reign  of  Law  363 

this  at  the  woods-gate,  had  begun  to  make 
one  for  herself.  She  followed  her  will  from 
day  to  day;  now  led  in  this  direction  by 
some  better  vista ;  now  drawn  aside  toward 
a  group  of  finer  trees ;  or  seeing,  farther 
on,  some  little  nooklike  place.  In  time, 
she  had  out  of  short  disjointed  threads 
sown  a  continuous  path;  it  was  made  up 
of  her  loves,  and  she  loved  it.  Of  morn 
ings  a  brisk  walk  along  this  braced  her 
mind  for  the  day ;  in  the  evening  it  quieted 
jangled  nerves  and  revived  a  worn-out 
spirit:  shedding  her  toil  at  the  school- 
house  door  as  a  heavy  suffocating  gar 
ment,  she  stepped  gratefully  out  into  its 
largeness,  its  woodland  odors,  and  twilight 
peace. 

On  the  night  of  the  sleet  tons  of  timber 
altogether  had  descended  across  this  by 
way.  When  the  snow  fell  the  next  night, 
it  brought  down  more.  But  the  snow 
melted,  leaving  the  ice ;  the  ice  melted, 
leaving  the  dripping  boughs  and  bark. 
In  time  these  were  warmed  and  dried  by 
sun  and  wind.  New  edges  of  greenness 


364  The  Reign  of  Law 

appeared  running  along  the  path.  The 
tree-tops  above  were  tossing  and  roaring 
in  the  wild  gales  of  March.  Under  loose 
autumn  leaves  the  earliest  violets  were 
dim  with  blue.  But  Gabriella  had  never 
once  been  there  to  realize  how  her  path 
had  been  ruined,  or  to  note  the  birth  of 
spring. 

It  was  perhaps  a  month  afterward  that 
one  morning  at  the  usual  school  hour  her 
tall  lithe  figure,  clad  in  gray  hood  and 
cloak,  appeared  at  last  walking  along  this 
path,  stepping  over  or  passing  around 
the  fallen  boughs.  She  was  pale  and 
thin,  but  the  sweet  warm  womanliness 
of  her,  if  possible,  lovelier.  There  was  a 
look  of  religious  gratitude  in  the  eyes,  but 
about  her  mouth  new  happiness. 

Her  duties  were  done  earlier  than  usual 
that  afternoon,  for  not  much  could  be 
accomplished  on  this  first  day  of  reas 
sembling  the  children.  They  were  gone; 
and  she  stood  on  the  steps  of  the  school- 
house,  facing  toward  a  gray  field  on  a  dis= 
tant  hillside,  which  caught  the  faint  sun- 


The  Reign  of  Law  365 

shine.  It  drew  her  irresistibly  in  heart 
and  foot,  and  she  set  out  toward  it. 

The  day  was  one  of  those  on  which  the 
seasons  meet.  Strips  of  snow  ermined 
the  field;  but  on  the  stumps,  wandering 
and  warbling  before  Gabriella  as  she  ad 
vanced,  were  bluebirds,  those  wings  of  the 
sky,  those  breasts  of  earth.  She  reached 
the  spot  she  was  seeking,  and  paused. 
There  it  was  —  the  whole  pitiful  scene! 
His  hemp  brake;  the  charred  rind  of  a 
stump  where  he  had  kindled  a  fire  to 
warm  his  hands ;  the  remnant  of  the 
shock  fallen  over  and  left  unfinished  that 
last  afternoon;  trailing  across  his  brake 
a  handful  of  hemp  partly  broken  out. 

She  surveyed  it  all  with  wistful  tender 
ness.  Then  she  looked  away  to  the  house. 
She  could  see  the  window  of  his  room  at 
which  she  had  sat  how  many  days,  gazing 
out  toward  this  field!  On  his  bed  in 
that  room  he  was  now  stretched  weak  and 
white,  but  struggling  back  into  health. 

She  came  closer  and  gazed  down  at  his 
frozen  boot  prints^  How  near  his  feet 


366  The  Reign  of  Law 

had  drawn  to  that  long  colder  path  which 
would  have  carried  him  away  from  her. 
How  nearly  had  his  young  life  been  left, 
like  the  hand  of  hemp  he  last  had  handled 
—  half  broken  out,  not  yet  ready  for  strong 
use  and  good  service.  At  that  moment 
one  scene  rose  before  her  memory :  a  day 
at  Bethlehem  nigh  Jerusalem ;  a  young 
Hebrew  girl  issuing  from  her  stricken 
house  and  hastening  to  meet  Him  who 
was  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life;  then 
in  her  despair  uttering  her  one  cry:  — 

"  Lord,  if  Thou  hadst  been  here,  my 
brother  had  not  died" 

The  mist  of  tears  blinded  Gabriella, 
whose  love  and  faith  were  as  Martha's. 
She  knelt  down  and  laid  her  cheek 
against  the  coarse  hemp  where  it  had 
been  wrapped  about  his  wrist. 

"  Lord,"  she  said,  "  hadst  Thou  not  been 
here,  hadst  Thou  not  heard  my  prayer 
for  him,  he  would  have  died !  ' 


The  Reign  of  Law  367 


XXIII 

SPRING,  who  breaks  all  promises  in  the 
beginning  to  keep  them  in  the  end,  had 
ceased  from  chilling  caprice  and  with 
drawals  :  the  whole  land  was  now  the 
frank  revelation  of  her  loveliness.  Autumn 
—  the  hours  of  falling  and  of  departing ; 
spring  —  season  of  rise  and  of  return.  The 
rise  of  sap  from  root  to  summit ;  the  rise 
of  plant  from  soil  to  sun ;  the  rise  of  bud 
from  bark  to  bloom ;  the  rise  of  song  from 
heart  to  hearing:  vital  days.  And  days 
when  things  that  went  away  come  back, 
when  woods,  fields,  thickets,  and  streams 
are  full  of  returns. 

Gabriella  was  not  disappointed.  Those 
provident  old  tree-mothers  on  the  orchard 
slope,  whose  red-cheeked  children  are 
autumn  apples,  had  not  let  themselves 
be  fatally  surprised  by  the  great  February 
frost:  their  bark-cradled  bud-infants  had 
only  been  wrapped  away  the  more  warmly 
till  danger  was  over.  For  many  days  now 


368  The  Reign  of  Law 

the  hillside  had  been  a  grove  of  pink  and 
white,  domes  under  each  of  which  hung 
faint  fragrance :  the  great  silent  marriage- 
bells  of  the  trees. 

After  the  early  family  supper,  Gabriella, 
if  there  had  been  no  shower,  would  take 
her  shawl  to  sit  on  and  some  bit  of  work 
for  companionship.  She  would  go  out 
to  the  edge  of  this  orchard  away  from  the 
tumult  of  the  house.  The  hill  sloped 
down  into  a  wide  green  valley  winding 
away  toward  the  forest  below.  Through 
this  valley  a  stream  of  white  spring  water, 
drunk  by  the  stock,  ran  within  banks  of 
mint  and  over  a  bed  of  rocks  and  moss. 
On  the  hillside  opposite  was  a  field  of 
young  hemp  stretching  westward  —  soon 
to  be  a  low  sea  of  rippling  green.  Beyond 
this  field  was  the  sunset;  over  it  flashed 
the  evening  star;  and  for  the  past  few 
days  beside  the  star  had  hung  the  incon 
stant,  the  constant,  crescent  of  ages. 

She  liked  to  spread  her  shawl  on  the 
edge  of  the  orchard  overlooking  the  valley 
—  a  deep  carpet  of  grass  sprinkled  with 


The  Reign  of  Law  369 

wind-blown  petals ;  to  watch  the  sky  kindle 
and  burn  out;  see  the  recluse  Evening 
come  forth  before  the  Night  and  walk 
softly  down  the  valley  toward  the  woods ; 
feel  as  an  elixir  about  her  the  air,  sweet 
from  the  trees,  sweet  with  earth  odors, 
sweet  with  all  the  lingering  history  of  the 
day.  Nearer,  ever  nearer  would  swing 
the  stars  into  her  view.  The  moon,  late 
a  bow  of  thinnest,  mistiest  silver,  now  of 
broadening,  brightening  gold,  would  begin 
to  drive  the  darkness  downward  from  the 
white  domes  of  the  trees  till  it  lay  as  a 
faint  shadow  beneath  them.  These  were 
hours  fraught  with  peace  and  rest  to  her 
tired  mind  and  tired  body. 

One  day  she  was  sitting  thus,  absently 
knitting  herself  some  bleaching  gloves. 
(Gabriella's  hands  were  as  if  stained  by  all 
the  mixed  petals  of  the  boughs.)  The  sun 
was  going  down  beyond  the  low  hills. 
In  the  orchard  behind  her  she  could  hear 
the  flutter  of  wings  and  the  last  calls  of 
quieting  birds. 

She    had    dropped    the    threads  of   her 

2B 


370  The  Reign  of  Law 

handiwork  into  her  lap,  and  with  folded 
hands  was  knitting  memories. 

At  twilights  such  as  this  in  years  gone 
by,  she,  a  little  girl,  had  been  used  to  drive 
out  into  the  country  with  her  grand 
mother—often  choosing  the  routes  her 
self  and  ordering  the  carriage  to  be  stopped 
on  the  road  as  her  fancy  pleased.  For  in 
those  aristocratic  days,  Southern  children, 
like  those  of  royal  families,  were  en 
couraged  early  in  life  to  learn  how  to  give 
orders  and  to  exact  obedience  and  to  rule : 
when  they  grew  up  they  would  have  many 
under  them :  and  not  to  reign  was  to  be 
ruined.  So  that  the  infantile  autocrat 
Gabriella  was  being  instructed  in  this  way 
and  in  that  way  by  the  powerful,  strong- 
minded,  efficient  grandmother  as  a  tender 
old  lioness  might  train  a  cub  for  the 
mastering  of  its  dangerous  world.  She 
recalled  these  twilight  drives  when  the 
fields  along  the  turnpikes  were  turning 
green  with  the  young  grain ;  the  home 
ward  return  through  the  lamp-lit  town  to 
the  big  iron  entrance-gate,  the  parklike 


The  Reign  of  Law  371 

lawn;  the  brilliant  supper  in  the  great 
house,  the  noiseless  movements,  the  per 
fect  manners  of  the  many  servants ;  later 
in  the  evening  the  music,  the  dancing,  the 
wild  joy  —  fairyland  once  more.  But 
how  far,  far  away  now !  And  how  the 
forces  of  life  had  tossed  things  since  then 
like  straws  on  the  eddies  of  a  tempest: 
her  grandmother  killed,  thousands  of  miles 
away,  with  sorrow;  her  uncles  with  their 
oldest  sons,  mere  boys,  fighting  and  falling 
together ;  tears,  poverty,  ruin  everywhere : 
and  she,  after  years  of  struggle,  cast  com 
pletely  out  of  the  only  world  she  had  ever 
known  into  another  that  she  had  never 
imagined. 

Gabriella  felt  this  evening  what  often 
came  to  her  at  times :  a  deep  yearning  for 
her  own  people  of  the  past,  for  their  voices, 
their  ways  of  looking  at  life  ;  for  the  gentle 
ness  and  courtesy,  and  the  thousand  uncon 
scious  moods  and  acts  that  rendered  them 
distinguished  and  delightful.  She  would 
have  liked  to  slip  back  into  the  old  elegance, 
to  have  been  surrounded  by  the  old  rich 


372  The  Reign  of  Law 

and  beautiful  things.  The  child-princess 
who  was  once  her  sole  self  was  destined  to 
live  within  Gabriella  always. 

But  she  knew  that  the  society  in  which 
she  had  moved  was  lost  to  her  finally.  Not 
alone  through  the  vicissitudes  of  the  war; 
for  after  the  war,  despite  the  overthrow, 
the  almost  complete  disappearance,  of  many 
families,  it  had  come  together,  it  had  re 
constituted  itself,  it  flourished  still.  It  was 
lost  to  her  because  she  had  become  penni 
less  and  because  she  had  gone  to  work. 
When  it  transpired  that  she  had  declined 
all  aid,  thrown  off  all  disguises,  and  taken 
her  future  into  her  own  hands,  to  work  and 
to  receive  wages  for  her  work,  in  the  social 
world  where  she  was  known  and  where  the 
generations  of  her  family  had  been  leaders, 
there  were  kind  offers  of  aid,  secret  con 
dolences,  whispered  regrets,  visible  distress: 
her  resolve  was  a  new  thing  for  a  girl  in 
those  years.  She  could,  indeed,  in  a  way, 
have  kept  her  place;  but  she  could  not 
have  endured  the  sympathy,  the  change, 
with  which  she  would  have  been  welcomed 


The  Reign  of  Law  373 

—  and  discarded.  She  made  trial  of  this 
a  few  times  and  was  convinced :  up  to  the 
day  of  the  cruel  discovery  of  that,  Gabriella 
had  never  dreamed  what  her  social  world 
could  be  to  one  who  had  dropped  out  of  it. 
Her  church  and  the  new  life —  these  two 
had  been  left  her.  She  no  longer  had  a 
pew,  but  she  had  her  faith  and  this  was 
enough ;  for  it  always  gave  her,  wherever 
she  was,  some  secret  place  in  which  to 
kneel  and  from  which  to  rise  strength 
ened  and  comforted.  As  for  the  fearful 
fields  of  work  into  which  she  had  come, 
a  strange  and  solitary  learner,  these  had 
turned  into  the  abiding,  the  living  land 
scapes  of  life  now.  Here  she  had  found 
independence  —  sweet,  wholesome  crust ; 
found  another  self  within  herself;  and 
here  found  her  mission  for  the  future  — 
David.  So  that  looking  upon  the  disor 
dered  and  planless  years,  during  which  it 
had  often  seemed  that  she  was  struggling 
unwatched,  Gabriella  now  believed  that 
through  them  she  had  most  been  guided. 
When  many  hands  had  let  hers  go.  One 


374  The  Reign  of  Law 

had  taken  it ;  when  old  pathways  were 
closed,  a  new  one  was  opened;  and  she 
had  been  led  along  it  —  home. 

David's  illness  had  deepened  beyond 
any  other  experience  her  faith  in  an  over 
ruling  Providence.  His  return  to  health 
was  to  her  a  return  from  death :  it  was  an 
answer  to  her  prayers :  it  was  a  resurrec 
tion.  Henceforth  his  life  was  a  gift  for  the 
second  time  to  himself,  to  her,  to  the  world 
for  which  he  must  work  with  all  his  powers 
and  work  aright.  And  her  pledge,  her  com 
pact  with  the  Divine,  was  to  help  him,  to 
guide  him  back  into  the  faith  from  which 
he  had  wandered.  Outside  of  prayer, 
days  and  nights  at  his  bedside  had  made 
him  hers :  vigils,  nursing,  suffering,  help 
lessness,  dependence  —  all  these  had  been 
as  purest  oil  to  that  alabaster  lamp  of 
love  which  burned  within  her  chaste 
soul. 

The  sun  had  gone  down.  The  hush  of 
twilight  was  descending  from  the  clear 
sky,  in  the  depths  of  which  the  brightest 
stars  began  to  appear  as  points  of  silvery 


The  Reign  of  Law  375 

flame.  The  air  had  the  balm  of  early 
summer,  the  ground  was  dry  and  warm. 

Gabriella  began  to  watch.  The  last 
time  she  had  gone  to  see  him,  as  he 
walked  part  of  the  way  back  with  her,  he 
had  said :  — - 

"  I  am  well  now ;  the  next  time  /  am 
coming  to  see  you? 

Soon,  along  the  edge  of  the  orchard 
from  the  direction  of  the  house,  she  saw 
him  walking  slowly  toward  her,  thin, 
gaunt ;  he  was  leaning  on  a  rough,  stout 
hickory,  as  long  as  himself,  in  the  man 
ner  of  an  old  man. 

She  rose  quickly  and  hastened  to  him. 

"  Did  you  walk  ?  " 

"  I  rode.  But  I  am  walking  now  — 
barely.  This  young  tree  is  escorting  me." 

They  went  back  to  her  shawl,  which 
she  opened  and  spread,  making  a  place 
for  him.  She  moved  it  back  a  little,  for 
safety,  so  that  it  wras  under  the  boughs  of 
one  of  the  trees. 

How  quiet  the  land  was,  how  beautiful 
the  evening  light,  how  sweet  the  air! 


376  The  Reign  of  Law 

Now  and  then  a  petal  from  some  finished 
blossom  sifted  down  on  Gabriella. 

They  were  at  such  peace :  their  talk 
was  interrupted  by  the  long  silences  which 
are  peace. 

"  Gabriella,  you  saved  my  life." 

"  It  is  not  I  who  have  power  over  life 
and  death." 

"  It  was  your  nursing." 

"  It  was  my  prayers,"  murmured  Gabri 
ella. 

"  And  you  gave  me  the  will  to  get  well : 
that  also  was  a  great  help :  without  you  I 
should  not  have  had  that  same  will  to 
live." 

"  It  was  a  higher  Will  than  yours  or 
mine." 

"  And  the  doctor  from  town  who  stayed 
with  me." 

"And  a  Greater  Physician  who  stayed 
also." 

He  made  no  reply  for  a  while,  but 
then  asked,  turning  his  face  toward  her 
uneasily :  — 

"  Our    different    ways    of     looking    at 


The  Reign  of  Law  377 

things  —  will  they  never  make  any  differ 
ence  with  you  ? " 

"  Some  day  there  will  be  no  difference." 

"You  will  agree  with  me? "  he  exclaimed 
joyfully. 

"  You  will  agree  with  me." 

"  Do  not  expect  that !  Do  not  expect 
that  I  shall  ever  again  believe  in  the  old 
things." 

"  I  expect  you  to  believe  in  God,  in  the 
New  Testament,  in  the  Resurrection,  in 
the  answer  to  prayer." 

"  If  I  do  not  ?  " 

"  Then  you  will  in  the  Life  to  come." 

"  But  will  this  separate  us  ?  " 

"  You  will  need  me  all  the  more." 

The  light  was  fading:  they  could  no 
longer  see  the  green  of  the  valley.  A 
late  bird  fluttered  into  the  boughs  over 
head  and  more  petals  came  down. 

"It  is  a  nest,"  said  David,  softly,  "a 
good  thing  to  go  home  to,  a  night  like 
this. 

"  And  now,"  he  continued,  "  there  are 
matters  about  which  I  must  consult  you. 


378  The  Reign  of  Law 

You  will  be  glad  to  know  that  things  are 
pleasanter  at  home.  Since  my  illness  my 
father  and  mother  have  changed  toward 
rne.  Sickness,  nearness  to  death,  is  a 
great  reconciler.  Your  being  in  the 
house  had  much  to  do  with  this  —  espe 
cially  your  influence  over  my  mother. 
My  father  was  talked  to  by  the  doctor 
from  town.  During  the  days  and  nights 
he  stayed  with  me,  he  got  into  my  trunk  of 
books,  for  he  is  a  great  reader ;  and  —  as 
he  told  me  before  leaving  —  a  believer  in 
the  New  Science,  an  evolutionist.  He 
knew  of  my  expulsion,  of  course,  and  of 
the  reasons.  I  think  he  explained  a  great 
deal  to  my  father,  who  said  to  me  one  day 
simply  that  the  doctor  had  talked  to  him." 
"  He  talked  to  me,  also,"  said  Gabriella. 
"  And  did  not  persuade  you  ?  " 
"  He  said  I  almost  persuaded  him  ! " 
"  And  then,  too,  my  father  and  I  have 
arranged  the  money  trouble.  It  is  not  the 
best,  but  the  best  possible.  When  I  came 
home  from  college,  I  brought  with  me  al 
most  half  the  money  I  had  accumulated. 


The  Reign  of  Law  379 

I  turned  this  over  to  my  father,  of  course. 
It  will  go  toward  making  necessary  repairs. 
But  it  was  not  enough,  and  the  woods  has 
had  to  go.  The  farm  shall  not  be  sold,  but 
the  woods  is  rented  for  a  term  of  years  as 
hemp  land,  the  trees  must  be  deadened  and 
cut  down.  I  am  sorry ;  it  is  the  last  of  the 
forest  of  my  great-grandfather.  But  with 
the  proceeds,  the  place  can  be  put  into 
fairly  good  condition,  and  this  is  the  great 
est  relief  to  my  father  and  mother  —  and 
to  me." 

"  It  is  a  good  arrangement." 

After  a  pause,  he  continued  in  a  changed 
tone :  — 

"  And  now  while  everything  is  pleasant 
at  home,  it  is  the  time  for  me  to  go  away. 
My  father  was  right :  this  is  no  place  for 
me.  I  must  be  where  people  think  as  I  do 
—  must  live  where  I  shall  not  be  alone. 
There  will  soon  be  plenty  of  companions 
everywhere.  The  whole  world  will  believe 
in  Evolution  before  I  am  an  old  man." 

"  I  think  you  are  right,"  she  said  quietly. 
"  It  is  best  for  you  to  go  and  to  go  at  once." 


380  The  Reign  of  Law 

When  he  spoke  again,  plainly  he  was 
inspired  with  fresh  confidence  by  her  sup 
port  of  his  plans. 

"  And  now,  Gabriella,  I  must  tell  you 
what  I  have  determined  to  do  in  life:  I 
want  your  approval  of  that,  and  then  I  am 
perfectly  happy." 

"  Ah,"  she  said  quickly,  "  that  is  what  I 
have  been  wanting  to  know.  It  is  very 
important.  Your  whole  future  depends 
on  a  wise  choice." 

"  I  am  going  to  some  college  —  to  some 
northern  university,  as  soon  as  possible. 
I  shall  have  to  work  my  way  through, 
sometimes  by  teaching,  in  whatever  way  I 
can.  I  want  to  study  physical  science.  I 
want  to  teach  some  branch  of  it.  It  draws 
me,  draws  all  that  is  in  me.  That  is  to  be 
my  life-work.  And  now  ?  " 

He  waited  for  her  answer:  it  did  not 
come  at  once. 

"  You  have  chosen  wisely.  I  am  so 
glad!" 

"  Oh,  Gabriella !  "  he  cried,  "  if  you  had 
failed  me  in  that.  I  do  not  know  what 


The  Reign  of  Laiv  381 

I  should  have  done  !  Science  !  Science  I 
There  is  the  fresh  path  for  the  faith  "jf  the 
race !  For  the  race  henceforth  must  get 
its  idea  of  God,  and  build  its  religion  to 
Him,  from  its  knowledge  of  the  laws  of 
His  universe.  A  million  years  from  now ! 
Where  will  our  dark  theological  dogmas  be 
in  that  radiant  time?  The  Creator  of  all 
life,  in  all  life  He  must  be  studied !  And 
in  the  study  of  science  there  is  least  wran 
gling,  least  tyranny,  least  bigotry,  no  per 
secution.  It  teaches  charity,  it  teaches  a 
well-ordered  life,  it  teaches  the  world  to  be 
more  kind.  It  is  the  great  new  path  of 
knowledge  into  the  future.  All  things 
must  follow  whither  it  leads.  Our  religion, 
will  more  and  more  be  what  our  science 
is,  and  some  day  they  will  be  the  same." 

She  had  no  controversy  to  raise  with 
him  about  this.  She  was  too  intently 
thinking  of  troublous  problems  nearer 
heart  and  home. 

And  these  rose  before  him  also :  he  fell 
•'nto  silence. 

"  But,  oh,  Gabriella !  how  long,  how  long 


382  The  Reign  of  Law 

the  years  will  be  that  separate  me  from 
you  !  " 

"  No  !  "  she  exclaimed,  her  whole  nature 
starting  up,  terrified.  "What  do  you 
mean  ?  No  !  " 

"  I  mean  while  I  am  going  through 
college  ;  while  I  am  preparing  a  place  for 
you." 

"  Preparing  a  place  for  me!  You  have 
prepared  a  place  for  me  and  I  have  taken 
it.  My  place  is  with  you." 

"  Gabriella,  do  you  know  I  have  not  a 
dollar  in  the  world  ?  " 

"  /  have  !  " 


"  Ah,  don't  !  don't  !  That  would  be  the 
first  time  you  had  ever  wounded  me  !  " 

"  How  can  I  - 

"  How  can  you  go  away  and  leave  me 
here  —  here  —  anywhere  —  alone  —  strug 
gling  in  the  world  alone  ?  And  you  some 
where  else  alone  ?  Lose  those  years  of 
being  together  ?  Can  you  even  bear  the 
thought  of  it  ?  Ah,  I  did  not  think  this  !  " 

"  It  was  only  because  —  " 


The  Reign  of  Law  383 

"  But  it  shall  never  be !  I  will  not  be 
separated  from  you ! " 

David  remembered  a  middle-aged  man 
at  the  University,  working  his  way  through 
college  with  his  wife  beside  him.  His 
heart  melted  in  joy  and  tenderness  —  be 
fore  the  possibility  of  life  with  her  so  near. 
He  could  not  speak, 

"  I  will  never  be  separated  from  you ! " 

And  then,  feeling  her  victory  won,  she 
added  joyously :  "  And  what  I  have  shall 
never  be  separated  from  me !  We  three 
- 1,  thou,  it — go  together.  My  two  years' 
salary  —  do  you  think  I  love  it  so  little  as 
to  leave  it  behind  when  I  go  away  with 
you?" 

"  Oh,  Gabriella ! "  — 

The  domes  of  the  trees  were  white  with 
blossoms  now  and  with  moonlight.  How 
warm  and  sweet  the  air !  How  sacred  the 
words  and  the  silences !  Two  children  of 
vast  and  distant  revolutions  guided  together 
into  one  life  —  a  young  pair  facing  toward 
a  future  of  wider,  better  things  for  mankind. 


384  The  Reign  of  Law 

"  Gabriella,  when  a  man  has  heard  the 
great  things  calling  to  him,  how  they  call 
and  call,  day  and  night,  day  and  night ! " 

"  When  a  woman  hears  them  once,  it  is 
enough." 

Even  in  this  hour  Gabriella  was  receiving 
the  wound  which  is  so  often  the  pathos  and 
the  happiness  of  a  woman's  love.  For  even 
in  these  moments  he  could  not  forget 
Truth  for  her.  And  so,  she  said  to  herself 
with  a  hidden  tear,  it  would  be  always. 
She  would  give  him  her  all,  she  could 
never  be  all  to  him.  Her  life  would  be 
enfolded  completely  in  his;  but  he  would 
hold  out  his  arms  also  toward  a  cold  Spirit 
who  would  forever  elude  him —  Wisdom. 

The  golden  crescent  dropped  behind  the 
dark  green  hills  of  the  silent  land.  Where 
were  they?  Gone?  or  still  under  the 
trees  ? 

"Ah,  Gabriella,  it  is  love  that  makes 
a  man  believe  in  a  God  of  Love ! " 

"David!     David  !"- 

The  south  wind,  warm  with  the  first 
thrill  of  summer,  blew  from  across  the 


The  Reign  of  Law  385 

valley,  from  across  the  mighty  rushing  sea 
of  the  young  hemp 

O  Mystery  Immortal !  which  is  in  the 
hemp  and  in  our  souls,  in  its  bloom  and 
in  our  passions ;  by  which  our  poor  brief 
lives  are  led  upward  out  of  the  earth  for  a 
season,  then  cut  down,  rotted  and  broken 
• — for  Thy  long  service  ! 


THE    END 


THE  CHOIR  INVISIBLE 

BY 

JAMES  LANE  ALLEN 

Cloth.     i2mo.     $1.50.     New  edition  with  illustra 
tions  by  Orson  Lowell,  $2.50 


"  One  reads  the  story  for  the  story's  sake,  and  then  re-reads  the 
book  out  of  pure  delight  in  its  beauty.  The  story  is  American  to 

the  very  core Mr.  Allen  stands  to-day  in  the  front  rank  of 

American  novelists.  '  The  Choir  Invisible '  will  solidify  a  reputation 
already  established  and  bring  into  clear  light  his  rare  gifts  as  an 
artist.  For  this  latest  story  is  as  genuine  a  work  of  art  as  has  come 
from  an  American  hand."  —  HAMILTON  MABIE  in  The  Outlook. 

"  The  humor  and  grace  ...  we  have  had  in  our  fiction ;  the  pu 
rity  of  tone  also.  ,  .  .  But  the  imaginative  beauty  which  lies  deep  at 
the  root  of  things  .  .  .  this  is  a  rarer  grace,  a  more  enduring  quality 
of  fine  literature.  .  .  .  This  beauty  has  lain  in  other  books  by  Mr. 
Allen,  but  in  none,  we  think,  has  it  been  under  such  high  command 
as  in  this." —  The  Atlantic  Monthly. 

"  Highly  praised  and  with  reason.  It  is  written  with  singular 
delicacy  and  has  an  old  world  fragrance  which  seems  to  come  from 
the  classics  we  keep  in  lavender."  —  From  the  Daily  Chronicle,  Lon 
don. 

"  There  are  descriptive  passages  so  exquisitely  wrought  that  the 
reader  lingers  over  them  to  make  them  a  possession  forever;  there 
are  inner  experiences  so  intensely  realized  that  they  become  a  part 
of  the  life  of  his  own  soul."  —  The  Dial,  Chicago. 

"  He  has  given  us  something  strong,  deep,  reverential,  that  will 
"each  us  how  to  live."  —  The  Bookman. 


THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

66  FIFTH  AVENUE,  HEW  YORK 


SUMMER  IN  ARCADY 

A  TALE  OF  NATURE 

BY 
JAMES  LANE  ALLEN 

Author  of  "A  Kentucky  Cardinal"  "  Aftermath"  "  The  Blue  Grass 

Region  of  Kentucky,"  etc, 

i6mo.     Cloth.     $1.25 


"  This  story  by  James  Lane  Allen  is  one  of  the  gems  of  the 
season.  It  is  artistic  in  its  setting,  realistic  and  true  to  nature 
and  life  in  its  descriptions,  dramatic,  pathetic,  tragic,  in  its  in 
cidents;  indeed,  a  veritable  gem  that  must  become  classic.  It 
is  difficult  to  give  an  outline  of  the  story;  it  is  one  of  the  stories 
which  do  not  outline;  it  must  be  read."  —  Boston  Daily  Adver 
tiser. 

"  The  close  communion  and  sympathy  with  Nature,  and  the 
noble  interpretation  of  her  wayward  moods  and  changing 
phases,  manifested  in  *  A  Kentucky  Cardinal '  and  '  Aftermath ' 
find  nobler,  sweeter,  ampler  expression  in  the  luminous,  sunlit, 
sun-flushed  pages  of  his  new  story."  —  The  Bookman. 

"The  book  continually  gladdens  the  aesthetic  sense  with  its 
luxurious  and  chaste  objective  imagery.  It  shows  a  marked 
advance  in  the  author's  power  of  vivid  dialogue,  and  though 
the  nature  of  its  materials  will  prevent  its  being  called  the  most 
beautiful  of  his  stories,  it  is  yet  likely  to  attain  the  widest  cir 
culation  and  to  be  a  stepping-stone  to  higher  things."  —  The 
Chicago  Tribune. 

THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

66  FIFTH  AVENUE,    NEW  YORK 


NEW  EDITIONS 

The  Blue  Grass  Region  of   Kentucky 

By  JAMES  LANE  ALLEN 
Cloth,   I2mo.     Illustrated.     $1.50 

" '  The  simple,  rural  key-note  of  life  is  still  the  sweetest,'  he  had  written 
In  the  opening  pages  of  'The  Blue  Grass  Region  of  Kentucky';  and  it  is 
this  note  which,  played  on  the  pipes  of  Pan  in  ever-recurring  and  fresh 
variations,  yields  the'  sweetest  music,  and,  touched  with  the  breath  of  his 
passion  for  nature,  is  transmuted  into  those  '  invisible  flowers  of  sound' 
which  lie  pressed  between  his  pages." —  The  Bookman. 

Flute  and  Violin, 
and  other  Kentucky  Tales  and  Romances 

By  JAMES  LANE  ALLEN 
Cloth,  I2tno.     Illustrated.     $1.50 

"  He  takes  us  into  a  green  and  fragrant  world  in  that  Kentucky  home  o! 
his  which  he  has  shared  with  us  so  genially  and  delightfully  before  now.  No 
one  has  made  more  of  a  native  region  than  he — more  beauty  and  more 
attractiveness.  He  has  done  for  the  blue  grass  country  what  Miss  Wilkins 
has  done  for  New  England,  what  Hamlin  Garland  has  done  for  some  parts 
of  the  West."  —  Boston  Transcript. 

A  Kentucky  Cardinal 

By  JAMES  LANE  ALLEN 
Cloth,  I2mo.     Illustrated.     $1.00 

"A  narrative,  told  with  naive  simplicity  in  the  first  person,  of  how  a  man 
who  was  devoted  to  his  fruits  and  flowers  and  birds  came  to  fall  in  love  with 
a  fair  neighbor  who  treated  him  at  first  with  whimsical  raillery  and  coquetry, 
and  who  finally  put  his  love  to  the  supreme  test."  —  N.  Y.  Tribune. 

Aftermath 

A  Sequel  to  "A  Kentucky  Cardinal" 

By  JAMES  LANE  ALLEN 
Cloth,  I2mo.     Illustrated.     $1.00 

"  The  perfect  simplicity  of  all  the  episodes,  the  gentleness  of  spirit,  and 
the  old-time  courtesy,  the  poetry  of  it  all,  with  a  gleam  of  humor  on  almost 
svery  page."  —  Life. 

THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

66  FIFTH  AVENUE,    NEW  YORK 


RICHARD  CARVEL 

BY 
WINSTON  CHURCHILL 

Author  of  The  Celebrity 

Cloth.     1 2  mo.     $1.50 


" '  Richard  Carvel '  is  the  most  extensive  piece  of  semi-historica* 
fiction  which  has  yet  come  from  an  American  hand ;  it  is  on  a  larger 
scale  than  any  of  its  predecessors,  and  the  skill  with  which  the  ma 
terials  have  been  handled  justifies  the  largeness  of  the  plan." 

—  HAMILTON  MABIE  in  the  New  York  Times* 

" '  Richard  Carvel '  is  one  of  the  most  brilliant  works  of  imagina 
tion  of  the  decade.  It  breathes  the  spirit  of  true  romance  ...  in 
a  way  that  is  truly  fascinating."  —  Philadelphia  Press. 

"  A  rich,  fine  romance,  full  of  heart  and  action  throbbing  with 
the  indomitable  force  of  liberty,  is  this  book  of  Winston  Churchill. 
It  sets  the  blood  to  tingling  .  .  .  and  above  all  it  thrills  one  with  the 
spirit  that  made  the  colonies  free  and  which  has  preserved  to  this 
day,  and  which  will  preserve  for  all  time  to  come,  the  life  of  a  glorious 
freedom."  —  Louisville  Times. 

'"Richard  Carvel'  seems,  verily,  to  possess  every  quality  that 
goes  to  make  a  genuinely  great  work  of  fiction.  It  has  the  reassuring 
solidity  and  the  charming  quaintness  of  '  Henry  Esmond '  or  '  The 
Virginians,'  with  an  additional  zest  that  must  perforce  be  the  author's 
own."  —  New  York  Home  Journal. 

"  We  have  nothing  but  pfaise  for  the  story  ...  a  captivating  one ; 
the  dramatic  movement  stirring  and  effective.  ...  In  a  word,  it  is 
long  since  we  read  a  more  thoroughly  acceptable  historical  romance 
than  '  Richard  Carvel.' "—  The  Independent. 


THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

66  FIFTH  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK 


THE  CELEBRITY 

AN   EPISODE 

BY 

WINSTON  CHURCHILL 
Crown  Svo.    Cloth.    $1.50 


"  One  of  the  best  stories  that  has  come  from  the  presses  in  tht 
last  six  months.  The  plot  is  novel,  the  central  idea  clear,  and  the 
incidents  are  worked  out  with  a  degree  of  skill  and  good  taste  that 
are  eminently  satisfactory.  Its  quiet  humor  is  one  of  its  best  quali 
ties."  —  The  Brooklyn  Eagle. 

"  No  such  piece  of  inimitable  comedy,  in  a  literary  way,  has  ap 
peared  for  years.  ...  It  is  the  purest,  keenest  fun." 

—  Inter-Ocean,  Chicago. 

"  This  is  a  delightfully  entertaining  novel,  and  it  is  seldom  that 
one  of  such  masterly  qualities,  by  a  new  author,  wins  its  way  to 
public  favor  as  this  is  sure  to  do."  —  Boston  Courier. 

"  It  is  an  extremely  clever  piece  of  work  that  is  likely  to  be  as 
popular  as  it  deserves."  —  Boston  Transcript. 

"  '  The  Celebrity '  is  an  admirable  novel,  ingeniously  conceived, 
and  brightly  written.  The  plot  is  handled  with  great  ingenuity,  and 
it  is  more  than  usually  interesting  and  it  artistically  leads  up  to  an 
unexpected  climax  that  is  most  elaborately  prepared  for.  The 
characters  are  all  firmly  outlined  and  they  seem  to  be  studies  from 
life.  We  cordially  commend  this  very  bright  and  entertaining  novel  • 
it  is  the  work  of  a  sound  and  original  artist." 

—  Boston  Saturday  Evening  Gazettt. 

"  A  novel  of  undoubted  strength  and  originality.  There  is  a  veir. 
of  humor  and  a  tone  of  romance  in  it  and  it  is  fascinating  frorr 
beginning  to  end."  —  Rochester  Democrat. 


THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

66  FIFTH  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


UNI 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $I.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


DEC  2 

7  1966  5  3 

''•.; 

?       !2Feb'52Cj 

V 

—  t.K.1  VfcU 

13Fob52LU 

DEC 

1  3  '66  ,     / 

1  liilfRO  1  AT 

UQAM  tot.^  r 

IJUi  Jl  i-np 

IN  STACKS 

ii  JN  1  7  19&v  _ 

IBRARY 

..<*£  rtKU1^/1 

RfeC'D  LC> 

MAY  '' 

51992 

AUG    3J96ii< 

IRCULATiON  DEPT. 

DEC 

12199E 

AUTDJ! 

SCflBC 

DEC  H  '92 

1 

JUN  7    'B2 

R    C'D  i-O 

MAY 

U  i  1999 

.1    iMi 

JUM     5  i-1^^ 

LD  21-100m-8,'34 

U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


226345 


LIBRARY 


